GICS was fortunate to be invited to and attend SHOT Show 2013 in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA from 15 - 18 January 2013.
After a marathon trip taking us through 4 airports, several bus and train rides, 36 hours after leaving Cape Town, we arrived in Las Vegas on 14/01/2013.
Straight after leaving the airport, it is easy to see that Las Vegas is everything and more than Hollywood makes it out to be. It truly is a 24 Hour city with every sort of facility and activity that you can think of. Despite being in the middle of the desert, there is a massive aquarium, skiiing and snowboarding. If you can think it, it exists. (If not, I am sure they will build it.)
The SHOT Show itself was held at Sands Expo and Convention Centre. The Shooting, Hunting, Outdoor Trade Show (SHOT Show) and Conference is the largest and most comprehensive trade show for all professionals involved with the shooting sports, hunting and law enforcement industries in the world. The show is restricted to the shooting, hunting and outdoor trade and commercial buyers and sellers of military, law enforcement and tactical products and services and we were amazed at the number of attendees over the 4 main days of the show.
We were very pleased to meet with a number of our existing suppliers, some of which we had not yet had the chance to meet with in person and we look forward to returning their hospitality if and when they join us here in Sunny SA.
We also made a lot of new contacts and we look forward to introducing a few new brands and products into the local market over the next few months.
The show is truly massive with over 1600 exhibitors spread out over 2 massive floors. We barely managed to cover the entire show over the 4 days taking our meetings into consideration.
Besides meeting with suppliers and friends who we have been dealing with for many years, highlights of the trip included meeting legendary Gunny R. Lee Ermey of Full Metal Jacket and Lock 'n Load fame. We also met Chris Costa of Costa Ludus. (Ex Magpul Dynamics.)
We invited both Gunny and Chris to join us in SA. Lets see what the future holds...
Another highlight was meeting with James Chan, MD of WE Tactical Training International and discussing various aspects of WE Airsoft and training both locally here in SA and internationally. James is exceptionally passionate about what he and WE Airsoft does and we look forward to working closely with WETTI.
On a personal note, highlights of the trip included shooting a RPD, M249 and a Kriss .45 ACP SMG.
We met with and saw far too many people and things to mention them all here, so we apologise if anyone reading this feels that we have left them out!
We believe that GICS benefitted greatly from the trip and we hope to pass this benefit onto our customers by employing the strategies and techniques that we learnt in order to bring better service to our customers, aswell as to bring new brands and products to the SA market that will benefit both, the private and government/law enforcement sectors.
Click here for more photos of the show.
Please do not hesitate to contact us on 021 555 3858 or info@gicombatsupplies.co.za with any questions or queries.
At your service,
The GICS Team
Email. info@gicombatsupplies.co.za
Website. www.gicombatsupplies.co.za
