Equipment Distribuitors 'Still Standing' Despite Industry Slowdown
Elton John's hymn to survival, "I'm Still Standing," greeted attendees arriving at the opening session of the Associated Equipment Distributors' annual meeting Feb. 6 in Anaheim, Calif., sounding the event's keynote theme of survival in tough times.
The meeting and AED's CONDEX equipment show followed a year that has socked distributors with an estimated 30 to 40% drop in business. But the group's outgoing president, John Zoubek, offered reasons for moderate optimism, based on such key signals as improving technology markets and the Federal Reserve's decision against more interest rate cuts. "All in all, I expect 2002 to be a welcome improvement over 2001," said Zoubek, general manager of Parlin, N.J.-based Zoubek Associates, to several hundred participants.