Palace roomier for retailers

Life is even better for Life is good now that the Boston-based clothier's temporary digs for Outdoor Retailer are inside the expanded Salt Palace Convention Center.

Although it really wasn't that bad being in the tent village for past Outdoor Retailer summer markets, it did have its inconveniences, said Ty Parr, president of Utopia Designs Inc., which has helped Life is good design its display space for OR, as well as its corporate headquarters.

Wheeling around hefty crates loaded with new products is easier now that power cables are tucked invisibly beneath the new Salt Palace exhibition hall rather than being taped to the floor below a big-top tent.

Climate control is better, too. "Last year it got pretty hot," Parr said Tuesday as he helped set up a three-story "barn," complete with antique wood and raw steel joints, in which Life is good will display T-shirts, hats, bags, mugs, footwear and other products bearing the company's upbeat name/slogan and its stick-figure symbol, Jake.

More importantly, there's just a better aura about being inside the building than being relegated to a temporary tent that was needed because the old Salt Palace was just too small to handle OR's 3,500 booths and nearly 20,000 participants -- the manufacturers, buyers, wholesalers and retailers of outdoor recreation products.

"Trying to find your booth in the tent could be confusing," said Parr, "but you also had a feeling you were separated from where the 'real' show was being held. There was a stigma. We knew we were in the tents. Knowing that we're in the real building just leaves you feeling more legitimate."

The Outdoor Industry Association certainly wanted all of its participating companies to feel legitimate. And the Salt Lake Convention & Visitors Bureau and its government and private-sector supporters did not want to lose the $32 million that Outdoor Retailer's summer and winter shows pumped annually into Utah's economy.

So city, county and state taxpayers banded together to underwrite a $58 million Salt Palace expansion to keep OR from moving elsewhere. The Salt Palace also is able to attract other big conventions or increase the facility's ability to stage two sizable meetings at once.

The product of that initiative will be showcased for the first time starting today, when the 25th and largest summer market opens its four-day run.

"I'm very excited about it. The exhibit hall is absolutely beautiful," said Allyson Jackson, Salt Palace Convention Center general manager. "It's going to be very useful."

The additional 145,000 square feet of exhibit space, which increased the Salt Palace's total to 515,000 square feet, is ideal for display-heavy trade shows such as OR. But Jackson might be even more pleased by the 72,000 square feet of new meeting-room space (boosting that component to 164,000 square feet) provided in the expansion.

"Each floor is 24,000 square feet and divisible into as many as six rooms . . . or 18 breakout sessions. That's something we sorely needed," she said. "In this day and age, more and more conventions are used for continuing education. These rooms will fill that need. The first questions from meeting planners these days is, 'How many rooms can you give me?' "

Jackson and Convention & Visitors Bureau President Scott Beck also beam about the new facility being energy efficient and environmentally friendly.

Waterless urinals that save an estimated 1.2 million gallons of water annually, lighting that illuminates without using much power, carpet that incorporates recycled materials and solar panels capable of generating all of the electricity needed to light a 400-vehicle parking garage around the clock are features that led to the Salt Palace's designation as the largest LEED-certified building in Utah, or Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design.

That's a valuable distinction in the competitive convention market, Beck said.

"When you go out there with a sales message emphasizing our proximity to the natural environment," he said, "it's important to have a building that reflects that commitment to nature."

Especially when your biggest client year in and year out is the environmentally super-conscious and perpetually growing Outdoor Industry Association.

"This new building better suits our needs than the temporary arrangements we've had in the past," said association spokeswoman Megan Davis. "This levels the playing field, makes it more cohesive for everybody, letting them draw from the energy of other participants. Bringing all that energy together is what makes Outdoor Retailer special."