Steel: GLM Plans to Grow

Home Textiles Today Staff -- Home Textiles Today, 10/20/2011 6:51:29 AM

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. - Alan Steel, president of GLM, shared some information about the company's plans for growth under the new ownership of Providence Equity Partners with HTT sister publication Gifts & Decorative Accessories.
     Steel assures us that growth will not come at the expense of what's already here: none of GLM's roster of shows will be going away, and there are no plans for personnel changes - except, perhaps, for eventual promotions and new hires.
     Steel said there were three initiatives already underway, though not in the gift or home industries. These include a previously announced action sports expo in Singapore and an antique, jewelry and watch show in Chicago. "We have a third launch that will take place in California," he added. "That one has not yet been announced, but it is in the area of youth culture."
     "As far as plans beyond that, we're really at too early a stage," said Steel. "The first thing we're going to be doing is getting our feet under the Providence table, so to speak. One of the things we'll be doing in the first hundred days of ownership is producing a strategic plan for acquisitions."
     As to what those acquisitions might entail, "We would look at anything in the marketplace that we serve. I wouldn't rule out anything, but it's too early to say," Steel said, in response to a question about whether GLM would consider acquiring any of the properties entering the market as the result of Vornado's decision to refocus MMPI on three core cities.
     As for organic growth, Steel says GLM will be looking at both domestic and international markets, and will "look at both tradeshows and the online products we offer and see what kind of expansion there is alongside those products."