Home & Gift Harrogate proved to be a success with both retailers and exhibitors at this year’s edition which took place from 19th-22nd July. Thousands of products were launched over the four-day show to a positive reception from buyers who were keen to discover new season lines for the key buying Autumn/Winter sales period and beyond.
New companies were revealed at Home & Gift for the first time including Boyz Toy, Branche d’Olive, BrownTrout Publishers, Captain Fawcett, Chive Inc., David Fischhoff, Fairmont & Main, Gone Crabbing, Hallmark Cards, Jasmine Living, Lampe Berger, Meri Meri, Sabichi Homewares, Scaramouche & Fandango, Sophia & Matt, Thornback and Peel and many more, presenting their launches to a wide array of buyers, from independents to larger retailers such as Fenwick, Bentalls, Hamleys, Barkers, Next, Laura Ashley, Oliver Bonas, Fortnum & Mason, and Graham & Green.
The new Design Point Debut & Spotlight, where buyers could spot fresh, new design talent and source innovative products, were extremely well received by retailers.
Keynote speaker Warren Knight delivered his retail technology talk to a packed audience in the new Great Northern Retail Summit – an inspirational and educational programme that took place on the second day of the show. Warren says: "An event designed for retailers in the north of England has been long overdue, H&G selected a range of speakers and topics that in my opinion were second to none, that gave business owners and sales and marketing managers great advice and simple take-aways to apply to their business. I look forward to speaking to them next year!"
Over 800 companies exhibited this year at Home & Gift with exhibitors reporting outstanding business being done across the four day show. Tom Sykes, general manager of Xystos, says: “Xystos enjoyed its best-ever Home & Gift, almost doubling the business written last year. Footfall was much higher in Hall Q than at the Cairn Hotel, where we had been for many years, and the quality of buyer excellent.”
Cleere Scamell, show director for Home & Gift, says: “We are absolutely delighted with the tremendous response that Home & Gift has received from the industry this year. As with any great product, it’s important for events to keep fresh and up-to-date, and this year we added plenty of new features to make sure retailers had an even more productive and enjoyable time.
“We have made some positive changes to the layout of the show and we are already planning ways to ensure our visitors get even more great ideas from every part of this uniquely enjoyable show. I look forward to revealing our exciting new plans shortly for the 56th edition.”
Home & Gift will take place next year from 17-20th July 2016.
