As far as not as many vendors, what can I say...sometimes they have conflicts, sometimes they don't. Ruger never comes.They are distributor only and the rep gets paid whether he darkens our door or not. Glock is Glock, they have a large chunk of the market sewn up, and they behave like it will always be that way.
We also lost a few vendors to the Shooting Industry Masters which was scheduled at the same time. That being said, we had more vendors this year than ever before.
Perceptions maybe. I didn't see the Trijicon guys there nor the Henry vendor both of which I was looking forward to as I am in the market for an Octagon barreled Henry Bigboy in 44 mag and looking thru a Trijicon which has the finest, clearest optics I've ever seen gives me...
Well we'll just leave it at that.
Or it may just be the layout or the reps some of which need dealing with the public lessons.
Anyway the expo is a nice and interesting way to kill a lunch hour and going again will be in my future. I just won't set my expectations quite as high going forward.