Why the Las Vegas Winter Furniture Market Matters

Danny and Pete recap their three-day trip to the Las Vegas Winter Furniture Market — and both agree it was one of the most overwhelming and worthwhile industry experiences they've had. Three buildings, 16 to 18 floors each, wall-to-wall vendors covering everything from sectionals and bedrooms to accessories, ceramics, and 30 mattress vendors alone. Pete compares it to being a kid in Toys R Us. Danny's biggest takeaway wasn't furniture — it was accessories. Since most RTO stores carry similar core products, the accessories floor is where you can actually differentiate your showroom from the competition.

For anyone thinking about attending, both hosts offer practical tips. Send at least six to eight people and split into tag teams by building — they covered maybe one full building between the two of them in three days. Set your appointments in advance, stick to a tight schedule with known vendors so you have time to discover new ones, and don't jump on the first deal you see. Watch out for crate ordering — a product priced at a third of your usual cost can look great until you factor in the freight, customs, and minimum order quantities that come with importing directly.

One practical warning Pete throws in: cell service inside the buildings is unreliable with that many people competing for signal, so set a physical meeting spot with your group as a backup. And wear comfortable shoes — he averaged eight miles of walking per day.

On the vendor side, Pete gives a genuine shoutout to Eric Mays and Yon at Biscayne Bedding, calling them among the best in the business for actually listening to RTO operators and building product accordingly.

The Vegas side of the trip also made an appearance — dinner at Bouchon at the Venetian, STK for steaks and a great DJ, the Chandelier Bar at the Cosmo (complete with a tongue-numbing flower), dinner with the Biscayne team, and Pete capping the trip with a solo zip line down Fremont Street in 42-degree weather while Danny watched with a Long Island iced tea.

Transcript

Danny Lastra 0:07

And welcome to the RTO show with Danny and Pete. I'm your host, Danny.

Pete Shau 0:11

And I'm your host, Pete. And today we're talking about the Vegas Show Winter Market 2023. What a time. That was that was an amazing time. Actually, it was a great thing. I'm so glad we got to see it.

Danny Lastra 0:22

No, it was definitely a great time. We were there for a total of three, three and a half days. We got there Saturday, which was kind of like a free day. And then Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, we worked the market really well. And I think it was a success. I think we met some cool people, met some good vendors, new dealers, and uh I think it was worth the trip.

Pete Shau 0:42

Well, for those of you who don't know what the Vegas market is, because I'm gonna be honest with you, until the last six months, I had no idea that there was a Vegas market, Vegas winter market uh in the industry. So apparently it's a furniture, it's a full furniture thing. It's not just simple to rent to own like it is in some of our RTO world FRDA meetings or anything like that. This is complete furniture, wall to wall, ceiling to ceiling, floor to floor, nothing but furniture, showroom, accessories, and this is where everybody goes to get the deals of the deals, right? I mean, this is the beginning of the year, this is where they go to get their stuff. But man, if you want to talk about vendors, oh my god, I've never seen that many vendors, I've never seen that many people in a show, let alone vendors, in one spot.

Danny Lastra 1:26

Well, I want to say it's like the second biggest national show, trade show every year. Uh, the only other show that I heard was bigger would be High Point in North Carolina, which is coming up in April, I believe. But I've heard about the biggest trade show, it's huge. Uh our owner Larry even told us, he told us flat out, remember, you guys are gonna be overwhelmed because that's how huge it is. I mean, it's it's three buildings, 16 to 18 stories tall, of nothing of vendors and furniture accessories, and dude, it was just me and you. Like it was overwhelming.

Pete Shau 2:02

There is nothing that you can't find there in the furniture world. I mean, it had everything to think of from you know ceramics to pictures to furniture, candle holders to people hanging off the ceiling. There was just about everything there. I mean, there was like 30 mattress vendors alone. Just imagine that. Not just one or two or three or five or ten. There was so many different things over there. I mean, this place was absolutely amazing. So you gotta imagine these three buildings, right? They're they're standing next to each other, connected on almost, I don't know, at least 10, 12 floors are connected, interconnected, right? So it's building A, B, and C, right? And then they all have different vendors in each building's, as Danny said, 16 to 18 floors high. I mean, they were so busy that they had like five elevators in the main halls, and you couldn't ride the elevator at one, like you had to wait. Like it was a waiting game just to see if you can squeeze in, right? It was just an amazing thing. And then they have, of course, the hotels that are associated with it. So there's several hotels that are associated with the Vegas Winter Market that they kind of do a collaboration and you can kind of get bust in between. Let me tell you, you cannot walk between the hotel and the convention center. That are, well, the three main centers and the one large convention center because it was just pandemonium and there was a lot of construction and stuff going on. They had there was the surfaces convention, there was a builders convention, so it was just it was just so much going on out there. These three buildings were massive. We're not talking about just 16 floors, Danny, of furniture. I was like a kid in a warehouse. I was I was like a kid. I was like going to you know, Toys or Us when I was five and going, Oh my god, look at all this.

Danny Lastra 3:40

Well, I I think the biggest difference of why it was so big, it wasn't just about the quantity of vendors and dealers there, it was the showroom. So, you know, we've been to FRDA, we've been to RTO World, we've been to some trade shows, and normally, typically, all these vendors they have about a booth. Now, some booths are a little bit bigger, you know. Ashley's always a little bit bigger. Ashley had two whole stories to themselves. So, like, think of malls, department-sized stores. That's how big these vendors' quote unquote booths were. Like, it was a department store. Like, you literally went in to shop a whole store of a vendor showing off as many much of their products as they possibly can. That's how massive this trade show was.

Pete Shau 4:23

Well, it was split into two, right? It had like case goods on one floor, and then they have seating on the other floor. So you have one where it's like nothing but sectionals and and recliners and all kinds of different things, and leather and non-leather, and power and the different options. And then you go to the next floor and it's nothing but bedrooms and dining rooms. And it was just an amazing, amazing time. We saw some people that we know out there. We met some new people out there. Uh, I didn't tell you this, Danny, but the other, you know, I saw the DW at Silk guy. He came by some of our stores. You know, we had to uh go over there and kind of have a conversation with them, but they're coming, they're coming through right now. He called me. Yeah, yeah, you know, he reached out to me too. Um, this thing is about as as a winter wonderland as it gets as far as a furniture show goes. And it's it's a great way to go out there and see what's new. But what you want to get out of it, you know, the purpose of being there, especially in RTO, is it's a great way to see what new products are available, what's coming out. I mean, what did you what did you take of it as far as new products and what what you saw? It's like, oh my god, we this is what we gotta have.

Danny Lastra 5:21

For my opinion, the thing that stuck out to me the most is probably accessories. So not so much floors, floors of accessories, yeah. And I would say you'll you'll find because you have your normal dealers there already, so you have your normal vendors, you know. We met with Ashley, we met with Coaster, you know, we met with our usual guys, Charlie S. Steve Silver, reestablishing a business, furniture of America. So, you know, did we get furniture? Absolutely, but the thing that stuck out to me the most was the accessories. Like, what's gonna make your store pop? You know, everybody's carrying the same washer and dryer, you know, Ashley furniture, maybe some coaster furniture. Everyone's kind of carrying almost the same thing. So, what's the little thing that's gonna make your store different? I think it's the accessories. And like you just said, there are those floors and floors and floors of accessories. Several companies can go there and purchase accessories and make their stores look differently. And you don't you wouldn't have to worry about, oh, are we looking like them, or are they looking like us? Are we copying because there's just so much decor there to style your your storefront, your showroom?

Pete Shau 6:26

I think another great reason for RTO to be there, guys. If you're ever wondering if you should send your guys, you get to talk to every single rep in the business. And it gives you some product knowledge. If you want your guys to know about any particular brand, if you want to know about building, you want to know about delivering, you want to know about shipping, you want to know about what kind of warranties that you're gonna get with your product, how the product parts work, what they're gonna do for you, what is this new leather like, what is this new cloth like, what is the reason for having this? You know, I remember when microfiber first came out, it was like, oh my god, we gotta have that. And then, you know, everybody has their own version of it. Now they have whole, you know, different styles of leather and you know what this will do for you. And now everything's got USB ports and LEDs. You want to have some product knowledge. You know, I wouldn't say take forever on it, but if you ever have any questions, especially by any particular vendor, go over there. They will school you on why their product is the best, they will school you on warranties and when you're gonna get it and how you know shipping works and your fuel surcharges. But it's it's a good reason to go out there as well, um, not just to buy, because of course buying is like 95% of it, but some product training and really just understanding your your vendor and understanding why they do the things they do and why they have what they have and the pricing that they have. Man, you can come back with some serious, serious knowledge, and then uh you know, you can actually see somebody and be like, man, we've never had this. I can open up a new line with these guys, and they're and they're open for it. That's what they're there for.

Danny Lastra 7:54

No, absolutely. And I mean, that's basically, in my opinion, what the whole show is about is is of course always finding the next cool thing. You know, everybody's always looking for that next cool item, that next cool thing, the the hotness of the the show. I would always suggest when you do Google meet with vendors, ask them what's their number one seller because it's not about your personal opinion. We talk about this all the time. It's not about what we purchased like, it's what the consumers like, it's what our customers are gonna like. So getting the vendor's advice and their opinion or their statistical fact of well, this is my number one seller, take that in consideration. You might not personally like him, but if it if he's claiming, he or she is claiming that it's their number one seller and that everybody's buying it, there might be a reason for it. So take take that in consideration when you do shop these vendors and dealers.

Pete Shau 8:42

Also, I think a good thing is to make sure that if you have any service issues with their product, like if you're there and you're saying, hey man, this is great, this is great. You know, you nobody wants a yes, man, right? You go over the you also got to tell them sometimes, hey man, I I you know that best settler of yours, man, that door handle, that thing comes off three times a day. What? No, you're kidding me. No, I'm dead serious. I'm telling you right now, real world application. That's not right. And you want to tell your guy, and those are the best places to do it at because they can't run, right? They're not a vendor, they're not gonna leave your store and you're they're there, they're not going anywhere. And if you have a big enough, and what I don't want to say a big enough stink, you don't want to, you don't want to like, oh my god, it's a piece of crap. But you do want to tell them if there's something that needs to be fixed because inadvertently you could help them get better. And if you're making them get better, that's better sales for you and your show, and better product reliability means that you're gonna have repeat customers. So it's also good to be in their ear and letting them know what's going on.

Danny Lastra 9:33

So, as massive as this trade show was, in your opinion, Pete, who who all in the RTO industry should be going? And how would what is the tactic to attack this? Because there's only three days, it's massive, it's huge, it's it's three. We did not see everything there, as you are aware of, because it was just basically me, you, and Larry. So, who in your opinion should go be involved in this specific trade show? And how what tips would you give somebody to how to really attack and maximize the opportunity there?

Pete Shau 10:04

Well, the first thing is that you know it's it's kind of crazy, and then maybe this is my fault. I've been in the industry a long time, and not really knowing what the Vegas winner market was all about and how big it was and how much difference it could it could be for me just going, like I said, maybe it's my fault, but I think that you should all have now every company is different, though. So we would call RMs, some call DMs, and some call DMs, some call RMs, but I think all the regional should be out there. First and foremost, I think that's something that should always happen. They should they should know what new brands are coming out, what is the difference, and how do you make why is this competitor better than the next? And then there's the networking feature. So your your regional should go out there. I believe if you can if you can afford to do it, all your DMs should actually go out there. Now it's not for a DM meeting or anything like that, it's to show them that world, the product that's out there, the knowledge that's out there, the business that's out there, and the different lines that are possibility because there we some stores, some companies have purchasers, but some rely on on guys like you and I, right? And we we need to go out there and know what's out there. So I think the owners for sure. And then last but not least, I think that every once in a while you might want to get a GM out there. You might want to show them for a lot of different reasons. Number one, seeing what's out there because they've probably never heard of it or never been there. The second thing is promotability. They need to know what's out there in the world that they don't know that's gonna give them the drive to get there. I think that's definitely the number one thing. And I think it's a great training opportunity for anybody that you have on a staff that may not be that high, you know. And I don't say that high. I mean, we have a lot of GMs, but some of them, you know, they're new coming in or whatever, but you got a you've got an old dog out there who's doing you the right way. You maybe you should take them out there. Maybe you should take them out there and show them, say, hey man, this is what's up for you next. If, you know, if you keep on doing what you're doing, I think it's a great sales opportunity. I think overall, anybody above a GM should actually be going. And then I I believe that a small percentage of GMs should be there as well.

Danny Lastra 11:59

I I would say as far as position goes, I mean, every company and organization is going to make their own decision on who goes. But as far as quantity goes, I think there needs to be at least at least six people going. Just with the buildings, like just from our personal experience, we we covered maybe a building, just me and you. I mean, if you're including our meetings with our our vendors, we cover maybe like a whole building. So being that there's three buildings, and technically there's actually four buildings, because you forgot that one building that we did the very last day, where it was like, I don't want to call it a flea market, but that's exactly what it looks like. It looks like one big open flea market.

Pete Shau 12:34

Well, it's the convention center, it's the single floor convention center, so it doesn't have multiple floors, but I mean it's it's that million million square foot showroom.

Danny Lastra 12:42

Correct. So actually, I would say eight, I would say six to eight people should probably go to the show. So you can, you know, tag team and divide and conquer, come back with your notes, you know, and if there is something that hey, everybody needs to go look at, that way you're not trying to run up and down and and miss anything or trying to see everything, but you're not really doing the conversations and networking like you should. I think definitely plan ahead. I think we did a great job with that. I think we we had our meetings set up and we stuck to our timeframe. So that's how we were able to meet new vendors and dealers and still upheld our commitment to our current dealers and vendors with our appointment schedules. So, I mean, those are just a couple tips I personally have for anybody who hasn't gone and they're thinking about going.

Pete Shau 13:24

Well, I'm gonna tell you guys right now, going in groups is probably the best idea. I would say if you have six, I would do a two by two by two. Not that everybody should be alone because I've there was a couple things that you know you were able to point out or I was able to point out that we were in the same place, but we just don't see it because we're looking, our eyes are focusing in one direction and not the other. I would say tag teams is definitely a great idea. So if you have three buildings, you have a tag team, try each building. I think that when you talk about plan ahead of time, you cannot not plan ahead. If you don't plan ahead, you will miss way too many things. There are some pamphlets and there's some things out there. Take a look, and I would I would take literally a 30-minute time if you have it to say, okay, you need to go here, I need to go here, or I'll go here, I'll try this building, you guys try that building. I think keeping to a tight schedule, because guys, when you talk to the the vendors that you already know, you know what they're gonna tell you, right? You see them all the time. What you want to do is you want to go in there and see their new product, talk to them a little bit, tell them about your services, but then be ready to move on because you already know them, you already see them. They see you in your stores all the time. Be vigilant to, hey guys, that time schedule, that time crunch. Hey man, I know you, Bob. It's all right, good. Uh, but now we gotta we gotta move on to the places we haven't seen to make sure you you do that. I'm gonna tell you guys right now, it's so big. It's so big. But some of them actually, which was crazy to me, they offered lunch. They were offering drinks, they were offering lunch, they had charcuterie boards.

Danny Lastra 14:41

Dude, you remember the there's places offering wine and whiskey. I I had uh that one guy, Johnny, he offered me a whiskey, was it like a $300 bottle glass? I was like, Yeah, I'll take a while, I'll take a whiskey. And then the one morning, uh, me and Melissa, we had a glass of wine first thing where we were shopping. I mean, it it it's it was fun. It's Vegas, baby. It's Vegas.

Pete Shau 15:01

And then, you know, some some of them are a little bit different than others, right? So you gotta, when I when I'm looking at it, I was like, okay, what's your minimum? How do you order this? How do you order that? You've got people that are on a regular level that says, hey, you know, you order $1,500, you order $2,000, or you know, this particular freight on this particular amount. But beware. They have some other things out there that they're gonna get you. But as you're as you're going through, because we'll cover that, but as you're going, just be careful. Crate ordering can be absolutely deceiving. And now, a word from our sponsor. Unlimited Marketing Solutions is a social media marketing company that can market directly to your specific customer base and provide solid and trackable results. Unlimited Marketing Solutions are also extremely flexible to meet your unique needs and budget and are currently running a promotion for 10% discount off your first six months of marketing when you mention the code RTO show. That's R T O S H O W when you call them at 352-553-3245. You can also email them at unlimited marketing solutions LLC at gmail.com. Now back to the show with Danny and Pete. Um, it sounds great per piece until you find out you gotta order 500 pieces of that item and they have to be shipped over in six weeks, and you've got freight to cover it, and it's got to come into the US and it's got to go through customs. Guys, be careful with that, especially in the RTO industry. We might not be so used to that, but it's something that's out there that we gotta we gotta be careful of.

Danny Lastra 16:24

Yeah, absolutely. Because sometimes you might think it's, oh, I'm gonna cut out the middle man because I know my dealer's getting it from this person over here, and it sounds great, but can you not financially afford, but can you afford that many pieces at one time? Can you afford that container to hit you at one time? And then taking consideration of the freight and uh fuel surcharge it's gonna take to get the product here that by the time it gets here, you're actually probably paying more than what you're paying the vendor that you know they're getting upcharged on it. The the middleman comes to save the day. They do sometimes. I mean, I call it spade to space, sometimes it just makes more sense.

Pete Shau 16:59

Well, that's why they're in business, to be honest with you. There's a reason why they're in business. And the truth is sometimes rent-owned uh we're not as big as we should be, or at least as big as we could be. And so we have to deal with them, and it makes better sense. And then that's just the way it is. I will tell you guys, there's a ton of walking. I did about 20,000 steps per day, and I'm gonna tell you, don't do fashion over form, do form over fashion. I'm kidding you not. Wear good shoes.

Danny Lastra 17:23

Ladies, do not wear heels.

Pete Shau 17:26

Don't look, I'm just gonna I'm just gonna say this out loud. Brittany, I love you, baby, but you cannot wear heels to the convention when you're when you're doing 20,000 steps. Your feet will not look the same at the end.

Danny Lastra 17:36

I felt so bad for her. It was the first day, not Saturday, but it was Sunday, the first convention day, and she wore heels. And poor thing, like, we're like three hours in, and like she's dying. Like, she's sitting down, her feet are blistering. I felt so sad. And I get it. Hey, props to Mrs. Shaw. She wanted to look good for her, man. You know what I'm saying? She wanted to represent. Ain't nothing wrong with that. You know, say she did, she looked top-notch and stuff, you know. But don't wear heels, don't do it. But guys, same thing. Make sure you wear comfortable shoes. Absolutely. You know, I mean, you know, you want to dress the part, absolutely, but you know, make sure those dress shoes are Dr. Shaw's. I'm highly recommending that, you know.

Pete Shau 18:13

I'm telling you, we walked, I walked an average of eight miles a day every day that we were there. So, guys, just be careful. There's a lot of walking involved, there's a lot of up and down, there's a lot of steps, there's a lot, there's a lot to happen. So, another tip is wear soft shoes. And then another thing I tell you guys is another deal, especially if you're having new guys there or you're doing tag teams, make sure that you keep in touch with others because someone might have a better offer. Be careful on jumping on the first offer they tell you they are salespeople through and through, right? Just like us, they're there to sell you when you walk in the door. And when you walk him in, it's their job to make sure that they land business with you. But you got to be careful because the guy that you don't know right down the hallway who's in the same type of business might have a better deal. Not that you don't want to do business with the regular vendors, but guys, you're there to save money. You're saying there to save money for the company and for your customer. And there might be somebody down the row that's got a better deal. You've got to make sure that you weigh out the options. Just be careful with the crate ordering. Like, yeah, I have that at like a third of the price, but then it cost me $10,000 to bring it into the country. Oh, right. So just make sure that you're paying attention to everything. Don't jump into the first deal you see. Make sure you get names and numbers and find out which building and what floor they're on so that you can find them and come back to them.

Danny Lastra 19:21

Uh and lastly, I would say go in early. Get up early and go in. It is a time crunch, and the sooner you get there, the better opportunity you have to network and just meet as many people as you can. So the early bird gets the worm, rise and shine, people. I know it's Vegas. I know you probably went out the night before, but hey, if you're gonna go out, make sure you rise. You know, Kobe used to say that all the time. We'll go out and party, but at 5 a.m., hey, it's time to it's time to go to work. It's game time, baby. It's game time.

Pete Shau 19:49

Uh you know, another last little tidbit I'd give you guys is to make sure that you guys, if you guys can't reach each other, if you've tried it, cell phones are a little dodgy in the building. Sometimes they work, sometimes they didn't. Sometimes my text messages would go direct like right away, and then sometimes it would take like two hours, and I'd be getting text messages after I talked to Danny or I talked to Larry. I'm gonna tell you guys right now, for a setup, just as a backup, you might want to come up with a place to meet, uh, maybe every couple hours or three hours or whatever the case is, or somebody place to meet at lunch. Because trying to make sure that you communicate in between those things, if if the cell phone kids, not only are you in a building, you're in three buildings that are right next to each other, and there's about a million cell phones next to you, all cutting for the same you know, airtime. Listen, it just might be easier to say, hey, you know, we're gonna meet here on level five uh at this particular cell phone place or whatever, uh, just to make sure that everybody knows where we're doing or where we're going or the plan or whatever. If you don't need to, great, but I would say that that's probably a good idea to do so.

Danny Lastra 20:46

All right, man. Let's let's let's get into what everybody really wants to know about. What Vegas, baby. What happened in Vegas?

Pete Shau 20:52

Well, you know, they say what happens in Vegas, we're supposed to stay in Vegas, Danny. I don't know, man. What are we supposed to say? We should give them a little something. We'll give you guys a PG version of uh everything that happened. Uh first off, we had a great time after we got there. You know, the first night we went to Bouchon with Larry, and um it was it was just a great time with the ladies, you know, Danny's wife and my wife, and we showed up to that that was great.

Danny Lastra 21:14

Thank you so much, Larry Pivotal ranking. Yeah, that was that that was a nice dinner. It was you know, it was at the Venetian hotel, actually. That's where he was staying at. I am gonna tell you, it was a little confusing to get there. That was crazy to think about. Like, it was like an out in the mall. There was so many restaurants. They told me there was like 36 in that one hotel. Remember he called us and it's like, hey, just come to the hotel, pick out a restaurant. And I'm like, okay, I'm thinking like two or three, you know, front desk, hey, you know, where the restaurants at? Oh, yeah, 36. Just walk down this 36.

Pete Shau 21:43

It was like a mall of restaurants. I've never seen that so amazing. They had uh, I believe it was a Venetian that had the water where they were the water taxi ride, whatever. Yes, it's like the Italian thing where they're where they're going through it.

Danny Lastra 21:55

Yeah. Little Bo and the guy was singing, uh, when the moon hits you. I like a big pizza pie.

Pete Shau 22:02

That's a more. So it was good, so we got to see that. We went to a lot of different floors and a lot of different places. This this particular restaurant was actually hard to find. It was actually the best restaurant that I could possibly think we could eat at. It was just an amazing restaurant. And it was actually hard to find. It was like around the cut, on the level, through the way, on the left. And it was like, okay.

Danny Lastra 22:21

Yeah, it was. It was kind of in the cut. It wasn't really in the in that little mall. It was like on the little side.

Pete Shau 22:26

Then you go in there and it was very, very nice. It was I mean, the waiter was amazing.

Danny Lastra 22:31

Oh, yeah. They were top notch.

Pete Shau 22:33

So we go there, we get a bottle of wine, everybody's uh a little happy, and then uh we go out. Sunday was a little bit of a trek. Sunday we got to go out a little bit. STK was a little bit more hippity hop.

Danny Lastra 22:44

Oh yeah, but it was fun, man. The music was on point. Like they were playing, they were playing a variety of everything, like and of every genre, every era. I mean, I'm talking about it. Went from was it John Bon Jovi to 50 Cent, I swear. Like it's crazy. And it sounded good, you know, but it it it did. Like the DJ was awesome. Like he just made it flow. Like it was just awesome vibe. The the food was terrific. Uh, we had the New York Strip. Drinks were drinks were amazing. Drinks were amazing. Uh a little pricey, I'm not gonna lie. I mean, not what I'm used to in Florida, but uh, but they were good. They were good. Speaking of drinks, though, after dinner, oh my god. So after dinner, we go to the Chandelier Bar, and that's at the Cosmo. And your wife told me about this flour thing. Uh, I forgot exactly what it's called, but she was like, oh, we gotta we gotta eat this flour before you drink. And of course, Pete and my wife will listen to they off the time like, no, we're not eating no damn flour. We're not, you know, we're not Mario, we're not, we're not trying to eat it. You know, so but I'm like in Vegas. Well, I don't know what this flour thing does, but she's like, yo, you just eat it, and it like enhances the the taste. This thing numbed my entire mouth, okay? Like, it tastes like grass, it tastes like yuck, okay? But I ate it, and next thing maybe I let it sit in my mouth too long, whatever, because I should have probably just like ate it, but like I let it dissolve in my mouth, so my my hose was like and then I thought it drink, but you let it you let it marinate. Yeah, I don't know if it was a good experience. It was an experience. I don't know if it was a good experience, but the chandelier bar was very nice, very classy, uh, great drinks, great, you know. We had a great time, you know. We had a serious pow-wow, the four of us, you know. We dove into our friendship a little deeper, you know. So deep. It was deep. Somebody was in a confessional. It was deep. But then, then, okay, so then Monday. Monday, we went out to um Morren's steakhouse with the Biscayne guys, Eric and uh Vaughn, the pres the owner of Biscayne. And that was a nice steakhouse too, as well. It was great. We actually have a couple here in Florida, one's in Orlando, actually.

Pete Shau 24:57

Yeah, you know, they were saying that. I actually didn't know that, but I'm gonna tell you right now, that was an experience. It was a great time. Eric Mays, probably the most spot-on guy there is out in the business. Listen, guys, if you guys haven't tried Biscayne Betting, and we're not trying to, they're not a sponsor, but I'm gonna just tell you this straight up. Eric Mays and Biscayne Betting, Yon the owner, they they are amazing. I mean, they build a high quality product, and he will take care of you from product knowledge to getting into you to just being a part of the rent-to-owned world because there's a lot of vendors out there who just, you know, this is our product, and we're gonna allow you to use it for rent-to-owned. But Eric and Yon are they will take in consideration what you have to say and what you know. We go through betting. We sell bedding, we bring it back, we put it back out. We have a lot of input on what makes a good rent-to-owned bed. Talk to Eric Mays at Biscayne Bedding, talk to Yon, they will take care of you. Those guys are spot on. Amazing, amazing time. No, stand-up guys for sure. Very, very, very worthwhile. Listen, in business and in life, spot on guys, and I'd recommend them all day long. And uh, to be honest with you, I think Eric deserves a shirt. We need to give him an RTO shirt. Let's do it. Him and Yon. Let's give him and Yan a shirt. And Matias, bro, Matias is Yon.

Danny Lastra 26:10

Matias! Oh no, tell him, tell him how how hard y'all are.

Pete Shau 26:14

Let me tell you guys something. If you want to know how to make your fit, if you want to build up your children to be like just the massive just tycoons that they can be, you follow Yan. Right. Oh, yeah. He is so strong with his son. And it's amazing because let me tell you, he's a stand-up character. His his son is just spot on. He's a hard-working young kid. Great kid. He's already got a degree, he's already helping out uh in the factory. And man, let me tell you, I I really believe in 10 years he's gonna be the man.

Danny Lastra 26:44

I'm gonna give the I'm gonna give the details. He has a rule. After you c graduate college, you have 90 days to move out. 90? You have 90 days to move out and get on your own. And then Mateo did that, and then he got his master's degree, and then he told his dad, hey, I I want to work for you. And Jan was like, Okay, you're starting at the bottom. And he made him work at the bottom almost for nine months, but he proved himself because he wanted to make sure, hey, if this is something you want to do, you gotta learn from the bottom. Like, I love that mentorship. And then to top it off, this is this is the funny part right here. So we're in Vegas, we're at dinner. It's nine o'clock at night, ten o'clock at night, you know. We've been having some drinks, appetizing food. Vegas time. Yeah, Vegas time. And Mateus has to catch a plane in three hours to be back in Florida by 7 a.m.

Pete Shau 27:29

two hours. Yeah, because he had to work at eight. Yeah, he had to go to work at 8 a.m. But listen, I'll tell you guys right now, I would I would do business with them any day of the week. All day, all the time. Yeah. Because let me tell you, Matias and Yon, they know the business. They know what they're doing. I mean, that we we plan on going to see a little bit of what they've got going on over there just to kind of find out what's up. But I'm gonna tell you right now, best in the business. And uh, I think uh we'll send Matias a shirt too so he doesn't feel left out that dad's got one, he doesn't. There you go. We'll do that.

Danny Lastra 27:57

So then talk about what happened our very last day. What what what what did you do, Pete, on the very last day before we left and came home? So we're walking down the Vegas strip. We got a lot going on, and I'm Well, it wasn't the Vegas trip. What was it called? Frontier. I call it Frontier's not Frontier. It's a Fremont. Fremont, the Fremont strip.

Pete Shau 28:13

So after we leave, we're on Fremont Street. We're walking through the people that are uh, you know, looking very fun and uh act activity driven, you know, no pants on, it was kind of different. And uh course it's like 42 degrees, and I get a wild hair up my eye. I'm like, hey, let's do the zip line. I want a zip line down Vegas. So we decide in our RTO fashion that we're gonna do a zip line, and then I find out I'm the only one doing a zip line in Vegas.

Danny Lastra 28:42

Mind you, mind you, it's about 11:30 in the morning, and I had just gotten myself one of those tall uh alcoholic drinks in the morning because I told I was talking about all weekend, like, guys, I'm not leaving until I can get me one of those tall drinks. So it's 42 degrees. I got me an ice cold, tall Long Island ice tea and one of those tube drinks, and this guy's talking about I want to go ziplining at 30 miles an hour in 42 degree weather. I was like, I'm gonna record you, buddy.

Pete Shau 29:08

So I'm just gonna tell you that it was an amazing, amazing time. My forehead got wind chapped. It was it was just it was amazing. But we had a great time over there. Listen, guys, we were sporting the RTO show in Vegas. I think you should be sporting the RTO show everywhere you go. Make sure that you hit us up on the website. Get your merchandise, get your shirts. Listen, hit us up if you guys have any ideas or any things that we don't talk about, especially about Vegas or anything like that, or anything in between, Pete at therto showpodcast.com or Danny at the rto showpodcast.com. We respond to everybody and we will get to you. Hit us up on social media. Danny, you've been doing a great job staying on top of that because that's not my forte. But uh, how do they find us on social media?

Danny Lastra 29:47

So it's uh real easy is at the RTO show. That's it. Real simple. Just go to We made it easy. The RTO show. We're on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, TikTok. We are growing massively. Over 1200 followers right now. I mean, we're we're making some cool videos. We went live a couple times while we were out there. Definitely check us out. I got the pictures, I got the videos of Pete ziplining. So go check it out. It's on Facebook, it's also on TikTok. And if you go to our website, I'm pretty sure Pete has it up on the website. If he does it, he will now. It will be up soon. It will be up soon, along with our newest video for uh the Super Bowl and Valentine's Day. Uh that that was a cool video we just made right now, too. I just saw the whole thing. Yeah. I saw I saw that you shared it on uh your Facebook.

Pete Shau 30:31

Yeah, so we're gonna put that up, guys. Listen, last but not least, we really care about what you guys think and we care about the industry, but this isn't an easy, easy thing. You know, we we we have full-time jobs and we're trying to squeeze us in between. But what I'm gonna say is if you guys want to be a part of the RTO show and you don't have time to call in, or you don't have time to send an email, you know what? You can do a sponsorship badge. We're gonna start a sponsorship program. We're gonna have the bronze, silver, and gold badges that you can, you know, have up. We're gonna put that on the website and we're gonna display that. You will get a shout-out for everybody who has a badge or everybody gets a badge. And there's a couple different levels, and we'll kind of discuss that uh coming up. But this is something new that we're gonna have to come out with. And I think this is this is a great way to just show your support. Listen, if you can't, it's okay. We're gonna we're gonna try to push on without that. But if you can, it would be great. We appreciate everything that you guys bring to the table. Everything that we try to do is for the RTO industry and for you guys. And if there's any way that you can help out, we appreciate it. If anything, just buy a shirt and wear it around the house, wear it and wear it to the mall. Let everybody know. I was sporting the RTO show Tote in Vegas, and I got a couple of looks. I don't know if they're wondering, like, who is that guy? What is he doing? You know what I mean? When we go live, everybody's like, this is a this is a furniture show. Why are they going live?

Danny Lastra 31:48

Man, but it was a great trip overall. Definitely worth it. If you haven't gone, I think you should go. I think you follow our tips, you'll be successful. You'll you'll you'll come back with some nice products, some new vendors, some new dealers. Definitely worthwhile.

Pete Shau 32:00

It was definitely a trip. It was definitely worth it. And it was Vegas, so there's some stuff that we can't tell you, but I will tell you that it was an amazing trip. It was worth it. Thanks to CPL group, Larry, for coming with us, and then Paul and Sharon for holding it down while we were gone. Just some great things that happened. Um, we got some good stuff coming in for this year. We can't tell you what that is because we're there in the industry secrets now, so we can't tell you. We are here in fairness and competition, but we have some great things coming in for our stores, and I would encourage anybody who can send anybody out to it. It is probably one of the best things that I've seen in a very long time for this industry, and I thought it was a great idea to share with you guys.

Danny Lastra 32:33

Make sure to like, share, comment, download each episode, give us a review on the the podcast. If you're not following us, follow us on social media. Uh, we love and appreciate all your support. Love to hear from you too. And with that being said, this is the RTO show with Danny and Pete.