If wandering around a hardware store is your idea of a fun morning, you would have LOVED the National Hardware Show held May 7-9 at the Las Vegas Convention Center. Home-related products were displayed inside and outside the north and central halls.

Unfortunately, the National Hardware Show is not open to the public; it is a business-to-business show where web sites, store owners, contractors, distributors, etc. who deal with hardware items come to shop.

I had a wonderful time during my two-and-a-half-hour visit, meeting exhibitors and discovering a number of new products (see accompanying video.) Yes, the economy is good, and I had a feeling that business optimism was everywhere.

Reed Exhibions organizes this show in partnership with the North American Retail Hardware Association (NRHA).The Painting and Decorating Retailers Association and Lancaster Buying Show also welcomed visitors to the show.

The mission of the NRHA as stated on one of its signs is “to help independent hardware stores, home centers and lumberyards, regardless of wholesale affiliation, become better, more profitable retailers.”

Conference sessions featured topics such as, “How Mobile Device Management Can Make or Break Your Construction Projects,” “Community Building With Purpose,” “Making E-Commerce a Reality” and “”Leaders Who Coach Win: Developing Inspired, Motivated Employees”.

The National Hardware Show expected 20,000 attendees and 2000 exhibitors. The show originated in 1945 and moved from Chicago to Las Vegas in 2003.