Cleveland RV Show: Dealer Pastore Sees Plenty of Positives

Jeff Pastore, center, of Hartville RV Center, chats with a couple at the Ohio RV Supershow.

While a final attendance figure was not readily available, at least on the dealers exhibiting at the Ohio RV SuperShow had plenty of good things to say about the four-day event, which was Jan. 4-8 at the I-X Center in Cleveland.

Jeff Pastore of Hartville RV Center, Hartville, Ohio, reported large and highly attentive crowds, with Saturday’s gate being nearly overwhelming.

“Friday’s traffic was super strong, and Saturday just plain overran us – and I do mean overran – and not just us but all the dealerships,” he said. “The traffic was just unbelievable. I’m telling you, I could have used a staff double the size of what I had and I wouldn’t have had enough people. I mean, people were just everywhere and pulling you in every direction.

“And then Sunday was very, very strong. Sunday I was kind of concerned about, because the Browns were playing the Steelers, which is going to affect our show. We draw from Pittsburgh and, of course, we’re in Cleveland. But the traffic was still very strong on Sunday as well,” he said.

As far as business, Pastore said the was a high level of interest more so than retail sales.

“The buyer seemed cautious to me,” he said. “We wrote deals, but they were shopping hard and they were cautious, but we did sell. And what we sold, at least for us, skewed to the smaller side of units. Both in fifth-wheels and travel trailers, they were looking at smaller stuff

Pastore said the retail focus on smaller units will dictate his inventory focus going forward, and that the industry might see a noticeable uptick sometime later this year.

“Based on what happened at the show, I would suspect that the year will pick up steam, but the buyer will stay cautious through the first quarter, more cautious than what they have been in the past after the first show,” he said.

“The other thing I’d say is – and we’ve been seeing this post pandemic, – we’ve been seeing a lot of new buyers in the market. That’s nothing new. We all know that. But there were a ton of people at the show that we talked to where this will be their first-time purchase. They just really wanted to collect information about what product category and what product size is going to suit their needs. So, there was a lot of first time buyer questions,” he explained.

Source: https://rvbusiness.com/cleveland-rv-show-dealer-pastore-sees-plenty-of-positives/