Thousands of retail buyers, and owners of independent shops flocked to Spring Fair at the NEC Birmingham on Sunday as its doors opened for the first time in two years. As the largest and longest running wholesale marketplace encompassing the very best in home, gift and fashion, the busy aisles across eight Halls showed that retailers are ready for a return to in-person trading, with a real thirst for newness and desire to re-stock their shops.
Open until Wednesday 9th February, the show is expected to generate tens of millions of pounds worth of business, refuelling the retail industry and injecting newness. Julie Driscoll, Divisional Managing Director, Spring Fair & Moda says; “The show has been bustling all day today, exhibitors are excited to be back and retailers have flocked to the show to return to face to face business and networking. We are still on a high after winning AEO’s Trade Show of the Century Award, and feel genuinely proud to continue to successfully put on the UK’s largest and longest running tradeshow. We can’t wait for the next 3 days, for the start of Curated Meetings tomorrow, and to see retail flourishing once again.”
Retailer, Anne Marie Murray from Willow Home & Interiors says: “Spring Fair has been great, fresh looking and its very contemporary. It’s well laid out and easy to get to and find products. It has been a great day so far and we’ve picked up a few names of new companies we didn’t know before.”
The much-anticipated launch of the game-changing and innovative Curated Meetings programme kicks off tomorrow (Monday 7th) with hundreds of pre-arranged meetings set to take place between buyers and brands. Exhibitors across gift, home and lifestyle categories are taking part including BHETA members, Bluestem. Buyers are pre-qualified for budget size, purchase responsibility and are actively sourcing, and come from national retailers Asda and Midcounties Coop, multi-store independent boutiques such as Nest and Gibbons, destination retailer Kelvingrove Museum and Ragdale Hall Spa.
Anyone entering the NEC venue at Spring Fair (including those during build-up and breakdown) will need to show their valid Covid-19 Pass, or a negative result to a Lateral Flow Test taken within 48hours.
REGISTER HERE