Retailers and suppliers attending the GIMA Awards were given a sneak preview of radical proposals by the organisers of Glee to rejuvenate the show in 2014.
I2i Events are to move the event from its traditional base on the Piazza side of the NEC to halls 17 to 20 at the Atrium entrance, as revealed by GTN Xtra last week. The Atrium itself will be offered to Glee’s nursery exhibitors so that visiting buyers enter the show through a plant showcase. “We’re trying to emulate what garden centres do,” event manager Matthew Mein told his audience.
Mein said he anticipated the show would fully populate all the new halls and enable a more flexible and fluid layout than had been possible in halls 4 and 5, which are separated by a stairway. There would be more entrances and a bigger frontage, with catering and facilities grouped conveniently at the back of the halls The show needed a new look and feel that would encourage the garden industry community to engage with it, he added. Lower ceilings and better lighting would enhance the new location
Outdoor space would also be offered for outdoor leisure and machinery exhibitors who need to demonstrate their products and a ‘clearance lines’ day would be considered if there was a demand.
On a provisional stand layout revealed to attendees, landscape was shown as occupying hall 20, with garden care in halls 19 ands 18 and garden leisure, food, home and gift, retail services and catering in hall 17.
Mein confessed that Glee had experienced “a tough time with the weather” but Glee 2013 had 141 new exhibitors with only a handful of existing exhibitors dropping out. Bookings to date were only 11 fewer than 2012 “and we think that’s pretty healthy”.
Allaying exhibitor fears that costs might increase, he said stand pricing would be be based on the exisiting structure; i21’s portfolio director, Dan Thurlow, added: “It is all about value. We are not about to saddle you with extra costs. Challenge us and we will work as hard as we can on your behalf.”
More than 30 GIMA Awards attendees turned out for the Glee briefing in Leeds.
