What They Say
Infiled, the maker of LED displays, said that it had opened an office and showroom in the centre of Barcelona.
What We Think
Barcelona is an attractive destination. That’s one of the reasons that I gave when I talked to ISE when it decided to relocate away from Amsterdam a couple of years ago and was taking soundings on possible places for a show. Locating events is a really tricky one with many parameters, but is different to locating a permanent facility there.
Only three years ago, Leyard opened a showroom there (Leyard Hosts Showroom Opening in Barcelona). The CEO at the time was very keen on it and moved there. However, within a couple of years, the firm had re-located the showroom to Reutlingen in Germany, after taking over Eyevis (Leyard To Open EMEA Headquarters and Showroom in Germany, along with New Showrooms in Dubai and Moscow). Now, I don’t know the ins and outs of the decision and politics, but one has to assume that if visitors had been happy to visit Barcelona to look at the firm’s products, the showroom would have stayed there. It’s a long way to go (with travel and, probably, hotel costs) to check products out.
I know that a number of A/V companies are concerned about the move of ISE away from Amsterdam and the ‘centre of gravity’ of the A/V industry in Europe. Certainly, the difficult economics of the A/V industry over the next couple of years may well make it harder to find travel budgets. (BR)
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