Chicagoland show

[dr galaga]

Just got back from the Chicagoland Show.  In the bathroom the vendors were complaining that it was too nice out and not as many people showed up as in the past.  In November I had to park across the street.  This time I was able to park on the edge of the vendor parking.
Soda Machines: all that I saw were restored (or converted to beer machines) and the cheapest was close to $3000.  There were no fix-er-uppers.  
Machine parts: none that I saw - except for glass soda.
Video games and pinball machine sellers were smoking some pretty good stuff before they put the price stickers on.  All the games were selling for 3-4 times what they were worth - and the jukes were close.
Slots and their Japanese counterparts were pretty cheap - tons of them for only $100 each!  If my wife wasn't with me...

Went there looking for stuff and didn't find much.
I bought a few cases of Mt. Dew and my wife bought a Game Room neon sign for the stairs to the basement.

It's now time to head off to the harware store to pick up some hardware to hang the sign and to the pizza joint for some pizza to go with the Dew!  

[sodaworks]

Thanks for the info., Due to working 15-16 hour days, (major plant outage in progress) I don't regret not being able to attend now. terry

[Lulu]

I was at the show on Saturday and thought I'd pick up some decals etc.  No such luck.  Lots and lots of slots.  I did pick up one of those cheep Japanese ones and some gas pump parts.  I thought there'd be more soda booths than there were.  Rather disappointing on that aspect, but interesting stuff to look at.

[Bireleys1]

Hi, I have been hanging around here for awhile reading the posts on here and thought it was time to officially sign on and comment on the show.
I am a long time collector and since I only live about 30 minutes from the show I have been going there every april and november for many years. November has always been the best time to go because I believe most of the sellers do most of there hunting in the spring,summer and fall for items to take to the show in november. There where some unrestored machines there on friday which is the best time to go to find great deals but you have to get there very early. Friday is what they call the dealer preview day and they charge $50 which includes getting in the building on friday while the dealers are unpacking their items and setting up their booth and admission for saturday and sunday,but you can also enter one hour earlier on saturday and sunday before they open to the general public.
You really don't have to pay the $50 to get good deals.
Just get there early on friday morning around 6:30 to 7:00
and there will be alot of dealers set up in the parking lot selling, some of which only sell on friday and not the other days, so by saturday most of the stuff is already gone or picked through and all thats left is high priced items. I go there friday morning to check out the lot, then I go back on saturday and pay only $6 to check out the stuff inside.
I used to pay the $50 but stopped because most of the deals I got were in the lot anyways and thats free.
I also must comment that the show is not what it used to be years ago.
People on friday use to run around like maniac's buying up soda machines,juke boxes etc.
Jeff Walters was  always there with a trailer load of stuff and there were people from oversea's running around also buying up alot of items to send back home.
AAAHHHH the good ol days how I miss them.


Dave

Bireleys1,
Glad you finally chimed in. Good to have you here.
I wish I could take the old time machine back to those days.

[Creighton]

Hello Bireleys1,
Welcome and Thanks for the information! Please jump into the fray anytime with your knowledge.
Creighton

[BrianB]

Bireleys1,

Welcome to the boards! We love "new" members to have around here.

[sodaworks]

Bireleys1 ,
  Welcome aboard. Terry

[dr galaga]

Yes, welcome!  Yep, I remember the good-ole-days!  Back then Sunday was the day to go because people would mark things down and give good deals so they didn't have to "bring it back home."

[Bireleys1]

Quote (dr galaga @ April 14 2005,7:46)

Yes, welcome!  Yep, I remember the good-ole-days!  Back then Sunday was the day to go because people would mark things down and give good deals so they didn't have to "bring it back home."

You are right about sunday back then, I used to go friday,saturday and sunday in those days and if there were any items that the dealer had left say a soda machine it would have had the price crossed off and changed several times by then.
I remember one time a dealer across the street in the lot had what appeared to be an S&S 700 ice chest that someone at sometime had paint all black with a paint brush that he was trying to sell and it looked pretty ugly and by the end of the day on sunday it was still sitting in the lot and his truck was gone and some of the other dealers trucks around where he was were gone also so I guess he just did not want to drag it back home or he left with more than he came with and had no room. Also one time someone had left an old juke box carcass in the lot after the show.

Dave