At the summer show this past August in Lexington , KY , we celebrated 20 years of CPE ! Twenty years of vendors creating products that inspire and encourage and having a place to present those products to the industry . Twenty years of retailers hand-selecting those products to display in their stores and influence their communities . Twenty years of working together to support our industry . Twenty years of making friends and watching those friendships grow stronger and stronger .
Twenty-three years ago , the Lord laid it on Bob Munce ’ s heart and mind to start a regional trade show . It took three years from that moment to put the first show together . Soon after that , ECPA asked CPE to take over their shows . CPE replaced the CBA shows five years ago . And now , here we are celebrating CPE ’ s fortieth trade show and 20 years of continuous shows .
To say “ continuous shows ” is a big deal , because nothing can stand in the way of the Lord ’ s will . Even during two years of COVID , CPE still put on a trade show . Mr . Munce said that if God wants us to produce this show , we will . If the venues allow us to meet , we will meet . The vendors said they would partner with us , regardless of how many retailers would attend , because they knew we all need face-to-face interaction . The retailers said that they needed encouragement and would make it a priority to attend the show . And so , the show went on .
Now we are so happy to announce that CPE Summer 2023 was the show with the largest number of retailers in attendance and the second highest attended show in history ! At this show , there were 143 retail companies , shopping for 254 locations . Plus , an additional 33 stores registered for CPE , but they were unable to attend at the last minute . Attending retailers came from six different countries . In just two days , 3,076 orders were placed , which is an average of 33 orders per store . We are constantly inviting new stores to help our vendors grow their customer base . At this show , 36 stores were first-time attendees .
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