Mass market retailing, once the scene of an apparently ongoing string of meetings, conferences, exhibit shows and discussions, has morphed into an industry where such gatherings are disappointingly few and far between.

One result is that an industry once connected by the opportunity (need?) to gather at various times throughout the year has disintegrated into a business in which many retail organizations now operate in an apparent vacuum, neither noting nor caring what competitors are planning, doing or reacting to in the U.S. marketplace.

It’s a dramatic turnaround. If an abundance of get-togethers was once a source of annoyance and distraction, it was also a source of information, much of it valuable, that provided a picture of the retail marketplace in America.

Once upon a time, the new year was barely three weeks old when mass retailers journeyed to Chicago for the annual housewares show, their first opportunity to discuss and analyze the just-ended Christmas selling season and so gain some insight into the season’s successes and failures. But the housewares show no longer convenes in Chicago in January — and retailers, being who they are, quickly lose interest in Christmas past and turn their attention to such upcoming events as Valentine’s Day and the Easter holiday.

Similar events have also disappeared or, just as unfortunate, have been shifted to time slots that afford little opportunity to look back. The latest example is Total Store Expo, an annual event sponsored and hosted by the National Association of Chain Drug Stores which replaced the more restrictive Marketplace Conference. However meaningful and productive this event has quickly become, it has been moved to August (from June), a slow period for retailing, and so lacks the opportunity for analysis that a June date so amply provided.

The point here is that mass retailing has suffered for this absence of opportunities to gather in large groups. Personal relationships have also suffered in an industry largely built on the effectiveness of personal relationships, many of which are initiated and cultivated at industry functions.

Another point is that the meetings that remain have become more critical to the success of mass retailing. None more so than the upcoming NACDS year-end gathering in New York City at the start of December. Though small in comparison with other industry events, this year-end gathering is noteworthy for several reasons.

Foremost among them is that it attracts many of the brightest lights in mass retailing, on both the retailer and supplier side. As well, the opportunities for debate, and the subjects slated for debate, are both many and meaningful. Over several days, many of the leading executives from the top-tier retail companies gather in groups large and small. They emerge with a clearer picture of what has happened, what is happening and what’s going to happen in retailing going forward. And, more to the point, what their peers expect from the holiday selling ­season.

This is not to imply that it’s an easy job to drag senior managers to New York City at the start of the most critical selling period in the retail year. For retailers, this is a time to be in stores. For suppliers, this is a time to begin assessing the impact their brands will exert on Christmas sales. But nothing valuable ever comes easily. And, as the NACDS December meeting has grown in both attendance and popularity, it is increasingly apparent that the people who attend this event find it valuable. And necessary.

It’s become to easy to avoid or defer industry gatherings. The primary job, running a company or managing a business, has become more challenging, more difficult, more daunting. And the meetings have, simultaneously, become fewer and, one theory goes, less critical to the success of a business.

The problem is that the theory doesn’t coincide with reality. An industry’s identity is often forged and strengthened at industry events. Similarly, when an industry determines that these events are largely symbolic, the events disappear. And the industry suffers.

This is a time when mass retailing cannot afford to suffer. It is suffering enough. It needs more excitement, more dynamism. And that comes not from individual companies, but from an industry that acts and thinks like an industry. As it does when it convenes as an ­industry.