Outdoor Retailer show returns to Utah after 5-year hiatus
Jan 9, 2023, 1:31 PM
SALT LAKE CITY — Monday marked a big day in Utah as the massive tradeshow Outdoor Retailer made its official return to Utah.
This comes six years after controversy pushed it out of state.
Outdoor Retailer kicked off this year’s events on Monday with a summit at Brighton Resort. On Tuesday, it will move to downtown Salt Lake City with the trade show.
With an expected 10,000 people coming in for this trade show, millions of dollars are expected to pour into local and other businesses.
As a result, downtown SLC will be a busy place to be.
With more than 2,600 retail buyers, representing over 1,250 independent specialty retail shops, regional stores, national chains, resorts and more from across the U.S. and beyond attending the Snow Show, Alexa Norton, area manager with Albion, hopes some of that foot traffic makes its way to City Creek.
“It’s so great to have more people at the mall because you can just stay more busy, and it’s more exciting,” Norton said.
Albion is a local, family-owned clothing company that started in Salt Lake City. Norton said this kind of foot traffic will help a lull in post-holiday shopping.
“It’s awesome. It’s exciting because we get more foot traffic, and we really bank on tourists because we’re such a local brand. So it helps increase our sales,” she said.
The same is true for Missy Greis, founder and owner of Publik Coffee Roasters, who has a location five minutes away from the Salt Palace.
“We are ecstatic that it’s back and so excited that Mayor Mendenhall was able to negotiate it back to SLC,” she said. “It’s fun and it brings a great vibe to our spaces — and historically have seen an increase of online sales of our coffee across the U.S. after OR.”
OR says they’ve signed a 5 year contract, which means now – 2027:
– January, June, & Nov will take place in #Utah.@KSL5TV
— Karah Brackin (@KB_ON_TV) January 9, 2023
The last time Outdoor Retailer was in the Salt Palace was in 2017, when it ended a 21-year run after not seeing eye to eye with some of Utah’s outdoor policies.
Outdoor Retailer ran a five-year stint in Denver before announcing they would be back in 2023.
Outdoor Retailer said they’ve signed a five-year contract, which means its events from 2023 through 2027 will take place in Utah.
