The FMI show was in town over the weeked, May 5-9th. It is a huge trade show, mostly aimed at grocery and food specialty stores. It is necessary to go hungry because everyone is handing out FREE samples of food. I stayed away from all the snack foods and cakes due to the fact that my wife and I have been on the South Beach Diet for the last month(I lost 10 pounds), but I made up for it by eating more than my weight in cheese. I did try some aloe vera juice which was good. Apart from the food there were all the newest models of grocery carts and anti-bacterial wipes for carts. I knew 2 people who say they got seriously ill from touching grocery cart push rails. So if you have carts, get the wipes, because I think your customers would really appreciate them.

A few of us went to the show to look for interesting new products for the catalog and website. We found some great new stuff, but I have to keep it under wraps until we finalize the deals. You’ll probably see them in our Fall 2007 Specialty Store Services catalogs. Trade shows and suggestions from our customers is how we keep bringing our customers the best and newest items from around the world.

I would also like to thank Aruba Networks for my $50.00 Amex gift card. They were doing a promotion at the show to get people into thier booth. I walked by and a woman asked me if i’d like to win a trip to Aruba. I didn’t win the trip or the $5000.00 gift card, but $50.00 is a nice dinner.