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Bigger than ever, the annual store design and in-store marketing show hits the jackpot in Las Vegas
The energy, glitz and glamour of the famous Las Vegas Strip seemed to spill into the trade hall of the Sands Expo and Convention Center in late March, as it played host-for the second year in a row-to the world's largest annual store design and in-store marketing show, otherwise known as GlobalShop 2005.
Attendance was up 15% over last year's 20,000 combined exhibitors and attendees. According to organizers, an additional 6,000 square feet of exhibit space was needed this year to accommodate the more than 900 suppliers exhibiting at the three-day event. Organizers attribute the show's robust growth to a healthier U.S. economy.
"From every single metric that matters, it is really clear that retail recovery is well underway and the consumer can expect to see a lot of improvements in design and shopping efficiencies because of the overall strength of the economy," said Doug Hope, show director and vice-president of VNU Expositions, producer of the show sponsored by Point-of-Purchase Advertising International (POPAI), National Association for Retail Marketing Services (NARMS), National Association of Store Fixture Manufacturers (NASFM) and National Association of Display Industries (NADI).
With six areas or "pavilions"-the Store Fixturing Show, Visual Merchandising, POP Marketplace, Store Design &. Operations, The Digital Store and Retail Marketing Services-dedicated to different aspects of store design and instore marketing this year's show floor catered to retailers of all stripes from up-market fashion chains to convenience stores.
It was the emerging technologies and new concepts, however, that retailers can use to enhance their "brand" that created the...