Dorothy Belshaw, the brand-new co-owner of NY Now, firmly believes New York is ready to return in full force to the trade show circuit.
“I one hundred percent believe in this market,” she said in an interview soon after Rockview Management Group, a privately financed company owned by Belshaw and her business partners William Lacey and Karen Olson, announced its purchase of the more than 100-year-old show. Within 24 hours of their announcement, Belshaw said, she got flooded with excited calls and texts from industry members eager to participate in a revived New York Now.
The show, acquired last week from Emerald Expositions for an undisclosed sum, was once a cornerstone of the regional gift and home market. It historically was strong in the tabletop and gift categories, and it commanded attention on the national stage. Over the past 10 or more years, however, its focus shifted away from its core categories and many of its key tabletop and gift exhibitors, restless and disillusioned, left.
Emerald Expositions could not be reached for comment about the sale.
“There is absolutely a need for that show,” said Belshaw, a 33-year trade show veteran who was involved with the show for more than 15 years under GLM from the early 90s through 2012, and served as its director for seven years.
“This is a highly geographically fragmented industry. Eighty-five percent of buyers don’t have the wherewithal to travel distances to a show. Years ago, there was a show every 250 miles. That was not practical. But the primary regions need to be serviced by a market.”
Shoppe Object, founded in 2018 by Jesse James, Deirdre Maloney and Minya Quirk, quickly rose to fill what it perceived as a void in the market. Shoppe Object was later acquired by AndMore.
“We made a bet on Shoppe Object because it was growing so rapidly and had captured a piece of the market that people had been missing,” said Belshaw, who served in a variety of leadership positions at AndMore, including president from 2024 to 2025.
But there is a need for more than one New York show, she said.
“Shoppe is amazing but not enough on its own. [New York] needs a large, commercial base so Shoppe can be optimized in some way.
“We do intend to work productively with Shoppe Object. We won’t be under one roof. [Shoppe Object takes place at the Starrett-Lehigh Building on 11th Avenue.] Shoppe’s venue is right for them. It’s important for buyers to have those two flavors. Both shows need to succeed for the greater market. We will be very differentiated but equally important.”
Reinvigorating the show
“I do believe that for NY Now to be reinvigorated, it needs a laser-focused team that’s not focused on other shows or categories,” Belshaw said. “We will make decisions quickly, be willing to make mistakes and communicate directly with people.”
One of the biggest hurdles Rockview Management will face is convincing both exhibitors and buyers to return to the show. Buyers need to see a robust roster of exhibitors to make it worth their while, Belshaw said. And when vendors come back, they will want to be satisfied with the number of retail buyers attending. It’s a case of what comes first, the chicken-or-the egg.
“We will manage expectations. We can’t do this overnight. It will grow and get bigger,” Belshaw said. “We will be focused on the intentional rebuilding of categories. We will articulate what we will be doing at each show and be super communicative.”
Category focus
Belshaw, Lacey and Olson will focus on rebuilding the categories that previously performed well in New York: tabletop, paper, personal care and accessories, handcrafted and home.
The team has a good relationship with the Tabletop Association, the manufacturer-based organization that runs the biannual New York Tabletop Show, and with Kristi Forbes, who manages the show for the association. “I want to expand on that,” Belshaw said. “We will take that further and farther. We are looking to bring those brands back. Tabletop is a solid category in the Northeast, always has been.”
Everyone predicted the death of the stationery business in the internet and email era, yet greeting cards have become gifts in themselves, said Belshaw. “There are so many new designers and manufacturers of cards. It’s a very powerful category, especially in New York. With no stationery show, it’s an opportunity to expand. NY Now has an association with the Greeting Card Association, and we will continue to work with them.”
“Personal care, fashion accessories and better baby all should, and can, be revived. There are good lead exhibitors in all those categories.”
Regarding the handcrafted category, “New York was at one time the largest artisan show in the country, with almost 500 makers and artisans, global and domestic. It was powerful. It was how handmade came to be a wholesale category instead of D2C. Shoppe has done a great job of bringing on a focused group of artisan makers, but there are many more out there. It is an opportunity.”
New York at one time had a home offering that included finished home textiles, all the way through to occasional furniture, floor covering, “significant” decorative accessories and wall art, according to Belshaw. “It was robust,” she said. “It served a purpose for the greater New York and Northeast designer base. The big designers go to High Point, where they get the meat and potatoes to service their projects. But they always had New York to focus on smaller pieces and accessories without the weight of having to see all their primary suppliers in High Point. It’s a category that can be revived, but in an intentional and thoughtful way, with resources that are designer-focused.”
In rebuilding these categories, Belshaw will lean on her experience in building Las Vegas Market many years ago.
“I will definitely take a page from my old playbook there,” she said. “It was the same thing of the chicken and the egg. It doesn’t happen overnight. You need to manage expectations and have clear communication. You have to check back in [with exhibitors and attendees] and say, ‘Here’s where we are. We hit that market, we missed it a little, here’s how we are going to catch up.’ Very raw and honest communication is very important to me. You need total transparency. You also need to partner with customers to strengthen the market. They’re invested in making it work, too.”
Under new management
Belshaw is CEO of Rockview Management Group. Lacey is the chief financial officer and Olson, the chief marketing officer. Both Lacey and Olson were AndMore executives for many years.
“I really enjoyed working with them. We each have different skill sets. We work differently. We each respect what the other brings to the table. We’re not afraid of productive dissonance. Conflict is important to get to the right answer.”
“I went to each of them when this idea [of reviving a New York show] was percolating. I said, ‘I’m thinking of doing this, would you be help me think through things?’ Bill said, ‘I want to be part of that.’ It was the same for Karen. I asked her, ‘How do I market this differently? Would you be willing to do a project for me?’ She wanted to be a part of it.
“That’s how we got to be self-funded. It’s amazing to be in this position right now.”
One member of the existing NY Now team, Ashley Ciofrone, will transition to Rockview Management Group. Ciofrone has worked on the show for roughly 12 years and has “longevity, institutional knowledge and a strong connection to gift industry,” Belshaw said. Rockview is building the rest of its team now, including a sales group.
New York’s position in the market
New York’s larger-than-life reputation is both its biggest benefit and its biggest detractor, according to Belshaw, who grew up in Manhattan.
“New York is magnetic. You can feel the vibrancy of the city, you can see the consumerism happening. There’s nothing like it. Yes, it’s expensive to stay in New York. But it’s also expensive to stay in any major city. Also, there are great, less-expensive options to stay in the city as it gentrifies. Going to market and staying at market is a different proposition than it was 15 years ago.”
Belshaw maintains that the cost of exhibiting in New York is not significantly higher than at other markets. The show takes place at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, which not only provides the support and service that a large trade show requires, but also has been refurbished and is now easier to work in, with a labor crew that is easier to work with than in the past. “When you are coming to a market and writing tons of orders, you will put up [with a lot],” she said of exhibitors. “Their return on investment will go up, and that’s when things start to gel for the customer.”
The biannual show will remain on its February/August timeframe. The next show will be August 2- 4, 2026.
“I think everyone should come and check it out,” Belshaw said.
