In an exciting development, Glass Vegas and TPE (Total Product Expo), leading forces in the trade show landscape, have unveiled new plans to bring their two events under one roof, offering buyers a powerful, consolidated platform for effective networking and product acquisition. This strategic arrangement, combining TPE’s broad reach across tobacco, vape, and counter-culture retail sectors with Glass Vegas’s artistic allure, is set to expand opportunities for vendors, attendees, and organizers.
TPE, a highly anticipated event in the business calendar, serves as a vital platform connecting manufacturers, distributors, and independent retailers from various sectors, including tobacco, vape, and counter-culture retail outlets. Meanwhile, Glass Vegas, brings together the functional glass art industry as a community into one place.
The arrangement isn’t a merger, so much as it is a mingling. The shows will run in tandem, nearly simultaneously in the same wing of the Las Vegas Convention Center. Each event will retain its unique identity, but there will be no walls separating the two, indicating a unified and cooperative spirit. Glass Vegas is scheduled for January 30th – February 1st, 2024, with TPE following closely behind, running from January 31st-February 2nd, 2024. The staggered schedule is anticipated to bring in a wave of fresh buyers, capitalizing on the overlapping customer base of the two shows.
“It’s a power move,” says Amy Short, Director of Glass Vegas. “Our partnership was forged to strengthen the industry; strengthen sales, strengthen the buyer base, build better relationships . . . having our events at the same place is going to exponentially increase the number of buyers for both shows.”
The concept has already been proven to an extent. Previous experiments of running the shows concurrently, albeit not in the same building, have met with considerable success, indicating a promising future for this venture. This partnership brings thousands of potential new buyers and exhibitors together for one epic event; two separate shows aligning to bring the industry a supercharged event where everyone wins.
“We’ve been strategic partners with TPE for quite some time,” Amy confirms. “We unfortunately couldn’t make it happen during the pandemic, but for a couple years we had lined up our show with theirs. When we overlapped the two shows, our exhibitors and artists were ecstatic because there was a whole new slew of buyers that they had never seen before—and they were placing a lot of orders. TPE has such a broad and different spectrum of buyers than what we bring.”
There is speculation that this development could create a force formidable enough to contend with some of the larger, longer-established trade shows of the circuit, but for Amy, it’s not a zero-sum game.
“There’s enough for everyone to win. Restaurant Row didn’t become Restaurant Row because one person hoarded all the business on the corner. No. They realized there was enough for everyone—that when you work together and you do it the right way, that brings more people, which brings more sales, which perpetuates the whole system.”
Reflecting on the partnership with TPE, Amy has only positive words. “They’re wonderful people. They care about their exhibitors and their buyers in a similar fashion that we do.”
Ellie Hansen, Trade Show Director for TPE, shares similar sentiments. “We are incredibly excited to share the floor with Glass Vegas this year. The synergy between our buyers and sellers is going to propel the experience of both shows for everyone involved. This partnership will bring more of everything—more buyers, more sellers, more products, more networking opportunities, and more parties.”
Save the dates: January 30th – February 1st, 2024 for Glass Vegas Year 8 and January 31st-February 2nd, 2024 for TPE24!
