SPREE Vegas Day 1 Highlights

From furry animals to insects and antlers, from lovely wind spinners to fashion, sports, organics and personalized family items—even celebrity toilet-bowl brushes—SPREE 2008 offers something for everyone.

For instance, parents looking for a way to keep their children tame at the mall have this option: Let them ride a wild animal. Zippy Rides offers the opportunity to franchise their fun and furry ride operation, wherein children (and their parents) ride battery-operated animals around a small corral in a safe and secure environment. The Miami-based company is now starting to sell franchise opportunities nationwide.

"It's easy to use for the customer, and parents love it," said company chairman Alan Chamo. "We provide everything the operator needs, including instruction and manuals. It's a quick install. We're already starting to hear that children actually want to go to the mall with their parents so they can ride one of the Zippy animals."

Zeus International Corp., meanwhile, has gone buggy. Their line of jewelry, cell phone charms, tabletop decor, key chains, necklaces and bracelets feature dead (but somehow still beautiful) insects encased in acrylic. The Milipitas, Calif. Company is a wholesaler and retailer looking to expand from its California base.

"We have a huge variety of products that appeal to all ages," said company co-owner Andre Zarembia. "We have the insects that so many people find fascinating, and also the items with only flowers inside, for people who don't like bugs as much as others do." Some of the designs are small insect puzzles that offer learning, and Zeus International Corp. is partnering with schools to enhance this resource.

The critters theme is also intact at Hitch Critters, the Auburndale, Fla. company offers its popular line of Truck Antlers, along with deer, hogs, dogs, horses and more, that attach to a vehicle, then vibrate and light up every time the driver hits the brakes. The devices are advertised as the perfect accessory for any truck, SUV or soccer mom's minivan.

"Our first sale was in Thanksgiving 2005 and we've sold nearly 300,000 units," said company co-owner Dan Chesnicka. "This is our first effort to sell in malls and kiosks. We've been in sporting goods stores, with great success, but this seems like a good product to enjoy success in the middle of a shopping mall."

Sharing space with Hitch Critters is North Carolina-based Bowl Buddy, offering toilet-cleaning brushes with cartoonish likenesses of George Bush, Hillary Clinton and Osma Bin Laden at the top of the handle.

"It won't be long before we have a couple of new items," said company vice president Tyler J. Dembicks, referring to the current presidential race. "We thought we better wait and make certain who the candidates are before we manufacture those."

Striking a decidedly more serious tone, Vegas-based Sea Spa Skin Care has been busy developing not only a new 100 percent pure and natural skincare line, Naturally Right but also a revolutionary new system for selling skincare products from carts that shifts the focus from aggressive selling to educating the customer and building long-term relationships.

Sea Spa, which has been a leader in the Dead Sea skincare category for years, with roughly 400 carts worldwide during the holidays (about half in the US), took more than a year to develop the new proprietary system. Using a Derma-Scope skin analysis camera, coupled with software developed just for Sea Spa and Naturally Right, cart operators can test a customers skin on-site in just a few minutes, suggest the right products to counter the customer's skincare problems (the software provides the suggestions) and complete the sale using a highly advanced POS system created by San Diego-based CSS Access.

"Our average sale has tripled in some locations because of the new system," says Vice President Sebastien Gavillet. "We have carts selling $1,200 to $1,400 of product to a customer in one sitting, then the relationship-management part of the system allows us to keep in contact with our customers well into the future, generating additional revenues." The cart operators "don't have to hawk their products because they know the sales will come. With our system we can prove that our products work by analyzing their skin, having them apply our products and then repeating the analysis. They see right there on the monitor the results of our system."

Look for more highlights of SPREE Vegas 2008 tomorrow!

Opening Night Happy Hour Mixes Fashion and Fun

After a blockbuster Day 1 on the show floor with record attendance for SPREE Vegas, about 400 attendees and exhibitors gathered at Fashion Show Las Vegas for a fabulous opening night happy hour sponsored by General Growth Properties. Sipping signature SPREE-tinis and nibbling hors d'oeuvres, guests watched as Fashion Show's famed runway emerged from the floor and a half-dozen models showed off the latest fashions for the coming season. A Marilyn Monroe look-alike wowed the crowed with a dead-on version of Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend.

Two guests took home door prizes: Bryon Troy of Ice Prints and Vicki Gruman of Simon Property Group each won a $100 gift certificate from General Growth Properties.

The party was a dose of fun and camaraderie after a busy day on the show floor. Thee Margaritaville Mixer at Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville on Wednesday evening sponsored by CBL, Developers Diversified Realty, Jones Lang Lasalle and Macerich promises to be another night of fun and frivolity, beginning at 6:30pm.

Dan Bennett is a Las Vegas-based freelance business writer.