By Bill Parry
The Long Island City Partnership’s 27th annual Trade Show drew more than 2,000 visitors and 103 exhibitors to the Astoria World Manor last week. The event showcases the diverse blend of industrial, commercial tech, residential and cultural sectors that make up the booming business community.
“It’s a wonderful way for our members to do business with each other,” LIC Partnership President Elizabeth Lusskin said. “It’s all about making contacts. There’s a great synergy here where the concrete companies meet the printing company they could use, the artists need marble for their sculptures and so forth.”
Each of the exhibitors set up tables with literature detailing their services.
“We come to this show every year,” said John Maltz, president of the Greiner-Maltz residential and commercial real estate firm. “It’s a way to meet the owners of small businesses and start-ups who might be looking for bigger spaces. It’s a good way to connect with potential customers.”
The Queens Economic Development Corporation had a table at the front of the room.
“It’s the biggest trade show in Queens,” QEDC Director of Marketing & Tourism Rob MacKay said. “We wouldn’t miss it. I’ve already met two potential clients for our Entrepreneur Space and it’s not even noon. I also met someone that wants to give a seminar at our Women’s Business Center. It’s been a productive day and if I win the raffle, it will be a heck of a day!”
Michael Murphy, the owner of the award-winning Murphy’s Lobster Grill in Sunnyside, attended for the first time.
“For years I’ve been trying to get some of the LIC crowd to come to my bar and restaurant just up the road in Sunnyside,” he said. “I came down because the LIC Partnership is a great organization. I’ve made a lot of contacts and I figure next year I’ll set up a table, especially now that it’s back here in western Queens.”
The Trade Fair had been held at Terrace on the Park for the last few years because that venue had more space. Lusskin decided to move it back to the neighborhood even though membership in the partnership has increased 50 percent since she took over last year.
“Nothing against Flushing Meadows, but if we’re going to celebrate business in western Queens, we should do it in the area,” Lusskin said. “Unlike at Terrace on the Park, where everyone was spread out in many different rooms, here everyone was in the same room with equal exposure and everyone seemed happy with that.”
Reach reporter Bill Parry by e-mail at bparry@cnglocal.com or by phone at (718) 260–4538.
