Discoveries at the National Hardware Show
At NHS, you can be sure of at least three things right off.
There will be new products. There will be an international feel. There will be fun booths. Also: You can add a BBQ fest outside in the evening; a BBQ cook-off; a beverage tent; a live rock band; and lots of networking with old friends and new ones.
A buzz is in the air here in Las Vegas aka Glitter Gulch aka “did you see the Rescue booth with the giant wasp at the top and the ants crawling up the sides? – OMG.” (The bugs aren’t real, don’t panic.)
“We’re here to simply get face-to-face with buyers – new or existing – and this show does that really well,” said Alyssa Ando standing under her moving ants in her Rescue booth.
“The NHS show also kicks off our 2025 program with our buyers,” she said.
Attendees move down the crowded aisles and find the large and busy Midwest Fastener booth.
“The metric is booming right now,” said Jared Kemp, category manager with Midwest Fastener.
“The stainless metric is popular; and the black colored stainless metric fastener, used in outdoor products and patio items for instance, is the newest, hottest seller right now,” he said, showing off the product in his hand.
Christmas items are on display in one of the aisles, right next to garden and outdoor aisles.
Just a stone skip away is the Grabber booth, showing off its popular hand warmers carried by many hardware stores.
And there’s something new in warming technology that Travis Smith, product manager, is showing off.
“This is the Lap Warmer,” he said, holding up the product.
“It’s new this year and it’s our big seller,” said Smith.
“Hardware owners buy them in packs of 24. They are good for the sports fans in the cold outdoor stadiums.”
WorkIQ is showing off its workbench vise to a large crowd.
An attendee is moving the vise and testing its articulated arm, and putting it through its paces, as others look on; even a show photographer has caught the action and come over for photos.
Other recognizable hardware brands are here too such as DeWalt, Westinghouse and Generac.
A large contingent of international vendors is here exhibiting at the National Hardware Show 2024 in the Las Vegas West Convention Hall.
Along one of the aisles is a long row of many exhibitors from China, it’s full of attendees, and there is John Alan LaCorte, who works for Shenghe company, he said.
“We resource out of China and ship out of Cambodia, my office here in the U.S. is in Tampa,” he said.
“We have a retail range of products from home to hardware and we’re in Home Depot,” he said.
“Our hottest sellers are work lights. And grow lights are big for us.”
The NHS show is where inventors, international companies and U.S. brand names in hardware came together to show their products and get face-to-face with hardware owners.
Discovery was the name of the game for attendees this year in Las Vegas.
