We now look forward to Spring Fair which sees many of the Christmas Decoration/Seasonal companies moving to Hall 5 following a major overhaul and boast new features including a winter wonderland café with seasonal curated product display. According to the organisers the re-edit will encourage visitors to break habits from previous Spring Fairs that has seen visitors heading straight to the same exhibitors, sometimes missing smaller companies in the process.
I don’t quite know that I agree with their thinking, so the juries out on this occasion! Hall 2 will play host to the greeting card and stationery buyers.
Harrogate celebrated their 70th anniversary, but later during the show we delved back into some really old records to find that we were actually celebrating our 71st year, but I have to say that several hundred of us thoroughly enjoyed the drinks reception in the splendid Royal Hall.
With Brexit now on the way to final completion I have to say that the general atmosphere during the show was one of very definite promise. Exhibitors both large and small were giving the most positive of comments regarding both orders taken and enquiries to be followed up, with quite a number of companies recording best-ever business taken.
Footfall might have been very slightly down, but there is no doubt that Harrogate attracts the serious buyers who visit ready to do business.
Just one sad note was the passing of Harrogate Christmas & Gift show director Paul Cassidy, after a brave fight with the big ‘C’. As Chairman of Casdon and also currently chairman of the Board of Directors of the show, Paul will be greatly missed. Almost 200 friends and family attended his funeral in Lytham St. Annes.
I wonder how many people were aware that one of the main differences in the purchasing of Christmas Trees in the USA. compared to the U.K. is that in the States, by far the majority of purchases for trees are made for the pre-lit variety, whereas for us Brits the reverse is the order of the day.
I have Joe Puleo of Puleo International to thank for this piece of information whilst discussing sales during Harrogate show I asked the question, although evidently us Brits are beginning to see the sense in buying a pre-lit tree and therefore avoiding the aggravation of placing the tree lights in good order around the tree and in the process being nagged by the wife for doing a poor job!
I also like to highlight companies celebrating special occasions and one such company is CB Imports. 30 years ago they began importing artificial flowers and other floral products and have seen the company grow and flourish during this time span.
Another highlight I enjoy marking are loyal staff that have remained with one company for many years. One such gentleman is Martin Hawken, who has looked after the south-west sales territory for Premier Decorations for over a quarter of a century. Martin tells me he first used to call on John Athwal when John worked for a garage group that had begun buying non-garage/motoring products to sell on the garage forecourt. Always immaculately turned out, Martin will be sorely missed, so anyone who thinks they can fill Martin’s boots please email Rolfe Hunt at rolf.hunt@premierdec.com.
Our buyer interview is with on-line artificial festive tree and decorations specialist Christmas Tree World. Their M.D. Stephan Evans provides trees for all sorts of occasions, even supplying trees for the Gavin and Stacey Christmas special, Dancing on Ice and also
Manchester United football club – hopefully the trees last longer than the club’s quality brand of football this season! Being an Arsenal supporter I couldn’t miss the comment!
Finally, a call to any golfers out there who might want to play in our golf day at Puckrup Hall on the 14th July. Tallon, Harrogate Christmas & Gift and Premier are amongst the players and teams involved and we would love to see more of you. It is a most enjoyable day, with a barbeque to finish, allowing everyone to get away by 8.30. or enjoy a few drinks at the bar. Cost £100 for the day, so give me a call on 01442 289930 or email me at malcolm@lemapublishing.co.uk
