The Automotive Aftermarket Products Expo (AAPEX) assigned space to 2,200 exhibitors during the official Space Draw for the 2011 event. AAPEX will be held Tuesday, Nov. 1 through Thursday, Nov. 3, at the Sands Expo Center in Las Vegas.
Both the number of companies participating in the recent space draw and the amount of booths they reserved exceeded totals from the 2010 AAPEX by approximately 8 percent and 11 percent respectively. The demand for approximately 500 more booths than last year required adding booths to the Upper and Lobby levels of the Sands Expo Center. Of the 500 additional booths, 250 booths represented high seniority exhibitors requesting more space than in 2010.
“Feedback from our members, the full service automotive aftermarket suppliers, has been positive about the AAPEX 2011 space drawing process,” noted Steve Handschuh, president and COO of the Automotive Aftermarket Suppliers Association (AASA), one of the co-owners of AAPEX. “As some of the largest exhibitors at the annual event, AASA members also are very pleased at the increase in the number of buyers registering for AAPEX this year. We currently have 8,982 registered buyers, compared to 5,824 at the same time last year, an increase of 54 percent – and we’re still four months out from the event,” he said.
“There is no doubt about it: this year’s AAPEX will be a blockbuster,” said Kathleen Schmatz, president and CEO of the Automotive Aftermarket Industry Association, AAPEX’s other owner. “We are especially gratified that the entire industry is planning on coming together for the Show. Exhibitors are taking out more space. Exhibitors who were not at the show last year have returned. And, guaranteeing the Show’s success, key buyers are registering earlier than ever to meet with suppliers at AAPEX. In fact, a full 60 percent more auto parts retailers have already registered for the show than at this time last year; 52 percent more independent repair garage owners, and an impressive 75 percent more auto parts warehouse distributors have registered already,” she said.
W.T. Glasgow Inc., the AAPEX show manager, facilitated the annual AAPEX Space Drawing that took 12 days to complete and ended June 23.
