Business owners and representatives were working their magic in Estevan on the weekend, encouraging visitors to engage with their products and potentially walk away with a bargain.
"Come try it on," said Beverely Semko, motioning to a woman walking by.
Semko was at the annual Showcase Expo, which started on Sept. 26 and wrapped up on Sept. 28, and was showing off Massaging Insoles, a therapeutic, 100 per cent glycerin filled insole that provides cushioning, increased circulation and massages for your feet.
"Yes, you can wear them in sandals and flip flops, too," she added, referring to the sandals the woman was wearing at the time.
"Feet are important to everyone," said Semko after her booth quickly filled up with residents wanting to test the insoles. "This product does well wherever it goes because feet are important to everybody. In my experience, and I've been selling these for five years, feet and lower back issues are absolutely chronic no matter where you go because we all live and work on concrete."
After a brief two-year hiatus from the Showcase Expo in Estevan, Semko returned to the Energy City for this year's event. She said she was excited by the opportunity to show off the goods, a direct sales product that's been in circulation in Canada for six years.
"Because we've been around long enough, people come back for their second pair, their third or fourth pair because they get tired of transferring them from shoe to shoe," she said.
Another long-time exhibitor at Showcase, Darlene MacDonald of Copper Kettle Fudge, was situated in the arena at Affinity Place over the weekend. She said she returns every year because the expo is a positive environment for the business. She has been working with fudge for about 25 years.
"It's a good trade show. They get a lot of people here and people know our fudge because we've been coming here for so many years so it's profitable for us to come," explained MacDonald while standing next to a mouth-watering display of chocolate fudge. "Every year (Showcase Expo) is happy to see us and we're happy to be here and we like Estevan. It's a win-win."
First-timers at Showcase were able to find success as well and in the case of Geoff Sonik's Pet Valu booth, it was an opportunity to let people, who may be interested in becoming a business owner, know that the Canadian-founded pet-retail franchise is a viable option.
"Over the past five years we've been undergoing a gradual renovation of all of our stores, and now they look like this," he said, referring to the picture behind his chair that showed the inside of one of the newly renovated Pet Valu stores, complete with spacious aisles on top of shiny wooden floors. "It's more of a boutique-style store now."
Despite the fact that Sonik wasn't there to talk specifically about the recently opened Pet Valu in Estevan, which is Saskatchewan's eighth Pet Valu branch, the compliments and inquiries about the store itself was something he took note of.
"It's not something I had thought of before but I'm certainly going to suggest this to our operations department, is that we should have a booth here potentially exhibiting for our store here specifically," he said. "I've definitely had more people come along asking about the store, not thinking about buying the store," he laughed. Nevertheless, the increased awareness about their store is ultimately a big positive for Sonik, who said the franchise is rapidly expanding throughout western Canada.
"We've had a very positive response," he said.
Following the expo, Rebecca Westling, marketing and events co-ordinator at the Estevan Chamber of Commerce, said the total number of admissions for this year was 2,169, a drop from last year's total of 2,800 and an even bigger decrease from two years ago, when total admissions sat at 3,200.
Despite the decrease, Westling said it was still a highly positive environment for businesses coming in.
"I spoke with many vendors and they said they were very pleased with the results and made great connections. A lot of people were looking to buy their products," she said, adding several large purchases were made over the weekend.
Local resident Audrey Quaife was the winner of the $500 Pure Energy Chamber dollars, which she can now use at any store that has opted into becoming a Chamber member.
"She was ecstatic," said Westling.
