A phalanx of buyers from the nation`s largest retailers of sporting goods, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Kmart Inc., is expected to set the pace again at the National Sporting Goods Association show at McCormick Place.
Wal-Mart and Kmart buyers will be among nearly 85,000 people who will crowd into McCormick Place East and North to examine more than a quarter-million new products that will appear on store shelves as early as
Christmas. The show, which is closed to the public, opens Sunday and continues through Tuesday.
The interest by the nation`s retailers is understandable. Sporting goods has been one of the few bright spots in what most retailers see as yet another dismal year of sales.
Sporting-goods sales from a sample of stores in the association, representing combined sales of $800 million, are up 10.5 percent for the first six months of the year, compared with a flat 1991, according to Larry Weindruch, a spokesman for the trade group. ”It`s the strongest first-half increase in the past five years,” he said.
Based on those figures, the trade group estimates that sporting-goods sales will increase 4 to 6 percent for the year. That would put sales of sports equipment, shoes and clothing at $31.5 billion in 1992.
The hottest-selling items, Weindruch said, are in-line roller skates, known as Rollerblades. Last year, sales of in-line skates tripled, to more than 2.5 million pairs, while the number of in-line skaters doubled, to 7.3 million. Sales rose to $164.6 million from $53.3 million.
In-line skates and associated protective equipment and clothes have become so hot that the association has set up a special area within the show just for them; it`s one of 18 special shows within the main show, which stretches over more than 8 miles of aisles lined with manufacturers` booths.
Virtually every athletic-shoe manufacturer plans to unveil one or more new products at the show.
Adidas USA Inc. not only plans to unveil new shoes, but also to begin rolling out the many products it will offer in conjunction with the 1994 World Cup of soccer, which will be in the U.S. for the first time.
Adidas also will offer the bright red sweater of Indiana University basketball coach Bobby Knight, the winningest coach in Big 10 history.
But notably missing again from this year`s show will be Nike Inc., which dropped out of the event a year ago.
Other companies will unveil colored volleyball nets (in hot pink, no less); an inflatable seat cushion that fits in a pocket or purse; collectible refrigerator magnets; an electronic golf meter that not only keeps track of strokes but also measures miles walked and calories burned; cushioned beach towels (who said Americans were soft?); and, for the T-ball aficionado, an air-powered tee that eliminates the tee (just what a 4-year-old needs to improve his batting).
