The last several weeks have been somewhat hectic as we once again helped our Italian friends at the New York International Trade Fair at the Jacob Javits center.  Several of the producers we deal with participated and as is normally the case the process was not without a bit of adventure.  The Italian pavilion at the show is sponsored by the Italian Trade Commission and focused on artisans from Umbria.

Our primary involvement is with Antonio Gialletti owner with his brother Carlo of Gialletti Guilio and Pino Marchetti who with his wife Sylvia own Peccetti Gino.  I mainly help with delivery of goods and set up of the booth and Laura helps out with the translation etc.   The show is good for our producers as it provides additional exposure for their products and will hopefully result in some future business for them.  The foot traffic at the show seemed better than last year so hopefully that’s an indication that things are starting to improve.  The show runs for five days but ends up being a week with delivery and set up.  Fortunately it’s a slow period at the Jersey shore so we were able to get away from the store without any major problems.

After the show ended Antonio and Daniela stayed with us for a few extra days and helped out our economy by visiting the local outlet center.  With the strong Euro everything was a bargain for them, similar to what it use to be years ago for us when we went to Italy.

Anyway, as a result of the show we are now unpacking some new items which should be on the shelves within the next week or so.  I've included a sneak preview in the pictures above of some of the items (click each picture to see an expanded view).

Ciao

Bill and Laura