A Boutique Owner’s Guide to Las Vegas Magic
If you don’t know what Las Vegas Magic is, then this post probably isn’t for you. Las Vegas Magic is one of the biggest Apparel Markets in the U.S. and is held twice a year in Las Vegas, Nevada. If you are a store owner and are debating whether or not to attend, what you need to prepare for, or are looking for a guide, this is for you!
Before The Show Checklist
Book Flight
Register
Book Hotel
Download App
First thing you’ll want to do is book your flight. I personally watched them for a week or two to see the cheapest, and I booked mine about six months out. Dates for Las Vegas Magic are published way ahead of time so you can plan in advance. This is the first step since flights typically go up the closer to the event. Next step is to register. Registration is FREE and attending the market itself does not cost you anything.
To find show dates on their website, click here.
To register for Magic, click here.
Last thing to do before you go is to book your hotel. We didn’t book ours until about three weeks prior to the event. I watched them for a while and honestly the resort fees and all that are ridiculously expensive in Las Vegas. Magic does offer some discounts for the group but I personally did not find them cheaper than what I found elsewhere. We ended up staying at the Excaliber which I booked through Orbitz. When we attended, Magic was held at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center (it’s usually held at the Las Vegas Convention Center). I would suggest wherever it is that you book a hotel within walking distance. The Excaliber had a free monorail shuttle to Mandalay Bay which was so convenient. It was a nice resort with basic rooms and was much cheaper than the others we looked at.
To view hotels recommended by Magic with discounts, click here.
To view info on the Excalibur, click here.
About two weeks before the show you will receive a few emails. One is reminding you to download the Magic App. This App is the BEST thing for an Apparel Market. Here you can find all of the vendors for every show listed. You can “favorite” the vendors you know you want to visit and explore new vendors. You can also view where each vendor is located. You can pull up maps of the shows, all of the classes, parties, and speakers and add them to your calendar in the app. This way you can view your schedule for each day in the app and keep track of what you’re doing with reminders getting sent via notifications. Keep in mind the App will not be updated until a week or two before the show.
To download the Magic App, click here.
Plan Which Shows You’ll be Attending
This show is MASSIVE. Magic has nine different shows inside it. What I mean by “shows” is basically categories of brands and vendors. You need to decide which show is more important to your business and which ones you plan to attend at all. There is no way possible you can attend all of the shows, there just isn’t enough time, and you probably don’t need to. My Boutique, Liv & Rory, is primarily clothing with a gift section. WWMAGIC was most important for me. This is where all the fast fashion vendors and brands are like Entro, Blu Pepper, She & Sky, etc. Pool Tradeshow was the next category I wanted to visit because it contains gift items I carry in store like Harper & Ari, and jewelry vendors. We also wanted to check out Project Womans just to browse, though I don’t carry the big name brands like Lack of Colour, Ugg, Free People, Kendra Scott, etc. The other shows include Sourcing (having your own designs made into clothing with manufacturers), Mens items, shoes, childrens, and more.
To view more info on the shows offered at magic, click here.
For more info on WWDMAGIC, click here.
For more info on Pool Tradeshow, click here.
For more info on Project Womans, click here.
Arrive Early
Early bird gets the worm. Seriously. Arrive the day before the show starts if you can. That way you can go get your badge the day before whenever it isn’t CRAZY. Also so you can enjoy a little bit of what Las Vegas has to offer. It is such a fun city and I LOVE visiting. Also, the day the show starts, arrive EARLY. Like 1.5-1 hour early. Hopefully your resort has a Starbucks because don’t even think about getting one at the show. The lines for both Starbucks were always at least an hour long and time is precious at the shows. Opening day my mom and I arrived an hour early and were in the front of the line. The line stretched about 20 people wide and two thousand in length.
For recommendations on Las Vegas, click here.
Have a Game Plan
Shows to Hit
Spending Budget
Schedule
Plan
As I mentioned before you need to decide which show is most important to your business and plan to hit that one first. Don’t worry about the crowds, it definitely spreads out once you get inside as people go their separate ways. You also need to have a spending budget in mind and know which products you are in need of replenishing, brands you need to restock on , etc. Know your schedule. Remember to allow notifications for the App so it can notify you when you have a seminar or event coming up you want to attend. Have a plan. My personal plan was to explore all of the vendors in WWDMAGIC, take photos of my favorite items, and decide what specifically I wanted to order, then go back and place orders. When you do take photos, make sure you snap a photo with the tag and style number. Otherwise you may have a hard time finding it later. With the style number they can just add it to your order.
Knowledge is Power
There are multiple seminars offered every day during the show. At MINIMUM I suggest taking one per day. These are completely FREE to attendees and there are a variety of topics offered. You can find them on the App and add them to your calendar beforehand. Speakers include successful business owners, marketing agents, etc. I found them very helpful and they all had valuable information. Often speakers will stay after so you can talk with them personally and answer any questions you had. Make sure to bring a notebook so you can take notes. (NOT your laptop, trust me you don’t want to carry that thing around all day). Some that I attended were:
How to dramatically increase sales without increasing foot traffic
Boutique Owners Bootcamp
Influencer’s Marketing
ABC’s of the Sales Floor
Use your Time Wisely
It’s absolutely impossible to look inside every vendors booth. I am talking there are thousands of brands with thousands of items each. So you’ll have to choose. Choose to look at brands you’ve ordered before, brands that stand out and look interesting, or brands that are showcasing styles you carry in store. Make notes of brands you like and may want to order from in the future. All of them will have some sort of card, catalog, or flyer you can take with their website info on it.
Looking at the brands is the fun part! Some of the displays here are AMAZING! Make sure you snap plenty of photos. These will give you ideas for displays, window decorating, and styling/outfits. There are some really wild displays that are so out there you’ll want to snap a photo anyways.
More Photos are better than None
Keep out your phone girl. Take the photos! As I mentioned I take photos of styles and tags that I like and then go back to the hotel and decide which items I ultimately want to purchase. You should also take some fun photos! Magic has tons of photo backdrops set up to take photos in front of. Take photos to share with your customers on social media. Do some videos of the market. Ask them to vote and see if their favorite styles are what you picked out too or not. many brands have their own photo spots as well.
Treat Yo’Self
It may be a business trip but there are plenty of opportunities to spoil yourself. Perks of being an attendee are plentiful. Some activities they had included jewelry making, calligraphy journals, tie dye socks, DJ’s spinning live every day, concerts, parties at clubs, Swag Bags, a Buyers Suite, and more. The Buyers Suite is where you can grab free coffee. water, and tea all day every day during the show. Each day we attended they had a craft at the Pool Tradeshow my mom and I would make sure to get there early so they wouldn’t run out of supplies.
They also had a booth that would do your hair or make up every day (how awesome?!) as well as a booth that did mini tattoos! This is all free for attendees.
Magic also offered an opening day party with complimentary food and drinks. Guests celebrity speakers included the Bella twins, Tori Spelling, and a private concert by Nelly.
FREE Stuff
There is literally an endless amount of free stuff at the show for attendees. First off, make sure to grab a show bag. It’ll be in the schedule when they will start giving them out and where to grab them. You can also grab branded merchandise from vendors. Almost all of the vendors give out tote bags. You’ll want somewhere to put them, and many people bring carry on luggage to put them in so you don’t have to carry them. I may consider that next year, we would just stuff them all in the biggest bag we received. Vendors also give out cosmetic bags, pens, scrunchies and more. My last count was 32 bags I believe. I took them all back to my boutique and gave them to customers!
There were also various free items around the show. We got some free t-shirts and water bottles that were sponsored by certain vendors.
Speaking of free stuff, one day during the show they will give out a Swag Bag. This tote bag includes free stuff from the vendors and is full. I was super pissed we missed out. Get there AN HOUR EARLY and sit down to wait. They only have 500 bags to give out and once they’re gone they’re gone.
What to Wear
I’m assuming if you own a boutique you have a bit of fashion sense. Well put 5,000 ladies who all have style together and its like the red carpet, but casual. So, dress to impress. Especially if you’re like me and love to take a lot of photos, dress cute. Also make sure to wear comfortable shoes. Whatever shoes are comfortable to you and wont give you blisters. I wore comfy shoes and boots but we were walking 6-8 miles PER DAY at the show and by the end I had such bad blisters I could barely walk through the airport.
For more info about MAGIC Las Vegas, visit their website HERE.
Finding the fun everywhere life takes us!
Love, Olivia Michelle
