AAPEX: Joe's Garage has promising start

LAS VEGAS — Joe's Garage, a new exhibition at the 2021 AAPEX in Las Vegas is experiencing what many in the automotive aftermarket have experienced with their new businesses — a rough, but promising, first year.

Joe's Garage is part of the new Repair Shop HQ exhibit area set up in the first floor exhibition hall of the Sands Expo, which in past years housed international exhibitors. The on-going pandemic has prevented most international companies from Asia from exhibiting this year.

The Repair Shop HQ features exhibitors offering products and services for an auto repair shop's front counter, shop management and service bay needs.

Within the exhibit area is the Joe's Garage section which features eight exhibits or "bays," with some equipped with lifts and vehicles, for live demonstrations of vehicle service products and equipment.

This was no small feat, according to organizers. The set up involved cooperation between the city, the Sands Expo and suppliers as vehicle lifts had to be bolted into the concrete floor and exhaust venting had to be installed and bolted into the ceiling to safely accommodate running vehicle engines indoors.

"I can start a car and do a demonstration live," Ryan Weems, technical support for the BG Products Inc. exhibit which is showcasing its fluids exchange products, said.

"I'm excited to be part of this. It's never happened before," he added about the setup, noting that in other years, such demonstrations with a running vehicle would have to be conducted outside in a parking lot.

"Everybody likes to hang out in the garage. This is the future of trade shows," Mr. Weems added.

Coats provided and installed the lifts and John Dow Industries set up its Eurovent sliding crab exhaust vents which suction exhaust from the tail pipes of two demonstration vehicles out through the building's vents.

John Dow Director of Marking Heather King said she was pleased with the turnout for the inaugural exhibit.

While the pandemic kept away the usual crowd, "the people who are here want to be here and are ready to get back to trade shows. It's quality over quantity this year," she said.

That was a sentiment expressed by a few exhibitors at AAPEX.

Each of the eight "bay" exhibitors have scheduled times to conduct a live demonstration so they are not competing with each other for onlookers, explained Vic Tarasik of Shop Owner Coach and a member of the AAPEX events committee, which oversaw the creation of Joe's Garage.

He said the section "turned out better than I envisioned."

Among the exhibitors:

• The NAPA Autocare "bay" has an electric vehicle where it hosts demonstrations of extracting and servicing a Dorman Products battery pack.
• Hunter Engineering Co. is demonstrating its ADAS calibration equipment.
• Kukui showcased several computer monitors so attendees could view demonstrations of its shop marketing solutions.
• Tekmatic also had monitors set up featuring its cloud-based shop management systems.

In all there are more than 20 booths in the Joe's Garage area, including the eight demo bays. Other exhibitors also have booths on the floor in areas designated for mobile heating/air conditions, tools and equipment and other shop needs.

A merchandise display is set up for companies without a booth presence on the floor to showcase their products that would be useful for repair shops, Mr. Tarasik said.