This year’s Tool & Equipment Distributors Associates (TEDA) event marked 31 years of their annual Vendor Advisory Meeting. Held for the 25th year in a row in Ellicott City, Maryland, at the Turf Valley Resort from June 8-11, the meeting featured 150 pre-registered attendees, 43 exhibiting vendors, and over 200 private meetings.
TEDA is an incorporated marketing organization consisting of tool and equipment warehouse distributors who serve key markets in the U.S. and Canada and who focus on the automotive industry. The organization is committed to creative and innovative marketing of professional tool and equipment products, primarily through a “two-step” (warehouse distributor/mobile distribution) channel of distribution.
The meeting stretches across four days and consists of the annual golf outing, – which TEDA President Glenn Pratt notes is becoming an “industry tradition” – a cocktail networking reception, a two-day tool and equipment exhibit show where TEDA members have eight minutes to visit each vendor to learn about new products, and private meetings held between TEDA members and the exhibiting vendors.
To kick off the exhibiting show, Pratt gave a presentation covering TEDA’s history, the group’s yearly performance, the goals of the event, formally welcomed over 20 new, first-time attendees, and presented awards for the top vendors of 2025.
Pratt explained that the event has three goals:
- We want all guests to thoroughly enjoy themselves.
- We want TEDA member and vendor interaction.
- Follow up with the members on the exhibit show and private meetings, so that relationships formed will be perpetuated into the future.
Moving on to discuss 2025’s performance, Pratt was happy to announce a 12 percent sales increase over 2024 – a year which the group unfortunately finished down by 2 percent. The numbers in 2025 showed increases in nine of the 13 product categories, with one category coming in flat, and only three at a decrease. Test equipment showed over a 90 percent increase in sales, and taking a look at the quarter one numbers for 2026, test equipment is still going strong along with pneumatic and electric power tools.
Rounding off this presentation, Pratt highlighted the nine Vendor Award recipients.
“Their combined volume was up 24 percent, which is double the group’s 12 percent,” he noted of the winners. “This is the 15th year we've been doing the Vendor Awards for marketing and growth achievement.”
The winners this year included:
- GEARWRENCH/Apex Tool Group
- Ken-Tool
- Launch Tech USA
- Lincoln Industrial
- Milton Industries
- Milwaukee Tool
- Portacool
- TOPDON
- VIM Tools
“The key to our member success and group success has been creative marketing and continued longevity since 1987,” Pratt said. “As you can see from the numbers, 2025 was a bounce-back year. The group finished with double digits, up 12 percent, with nine out of the 13 categories showing increases. 2026 is off to an outstanding start, with the first quarter being up by a record 42 percent.”
With the promising start of 2026, attendees are excited to see how the rest of the year will go.
The 2027 TEDA Vendor Advisory Meeting is scheduled for the week of June 7 back in Ellicott City.
View photos from the event in our TEDA 2026 Photo Gallery.
