British world of leisure and gardening

Nearly 1 600 firms will be presenting their products and services on a larger show space than last year: ten halls will be in use, as opposed to nine in 2003. About 200 exhibitors are expected at Petindex, which is being held concurrently.
Expansion of the exhibition space has resulted in changes to the hall allocation. The bro-ader range of plants available in the Nursery section is moving to Hall 9, where it will be adjacent to Landscaping and Garden Care, as well as to the Retail Services section that has moved over to Hall 5. Avant Gardening will be found in Hall 3/3A – a selection of design-led, elegant and high-margin products. Also sited in this hall is the Outdoor Living segment, encompassing furniture, barbecues, conservatories and gifts.
The fair organisers have announced that the New Products section has also seen further improvement. It will this year for the first time be located in Hall 9 and make use of its own logo. This section is the first stop for the majority of trade visitors to Glee, who are interested above all in new trends and innovative ideas. The Glee New Product awards, which will cover 14 different categories, will be judged on 18 September. Which means that the award-winning new products will be on display right from the start of the show.
Around 1 600 firms will be repre-sented at this year’s Glee and Petindex.
Retail innovation will be presented in the John Stanley Innovation Centre in Halls 6 to 8.
The International Buyers’ Centre will be available for use by visitors from abroad in Hall 5. Offered in conjunction with the Gardenex export association, the services will include interpreting, email facilities, refreshments and advice on export.
The expectation is for more or less the same number of visitors to attend as last year: the 2003 trade visitor count was 25 866. A total of 2 327 visitors arrived from abroad, 81 per cent of them from Europe. Analysis of the figures reveals that the biggest group (23 per cent) consisted of representatives from garden centres. Retailers from the pet and aquarium markets followed in second place at 12 per cent.