GLEE GARDEN
In September more than 500 exhibitors will pack the four huge Glee Garden halls at the NEC Birmingham; grouped into five, clearly defined sectors designed to make sourcing products and suppliers easier:
Glee Nursery: Hall 3/3A
Glee Nursery is the UK’s only national plant show, creating a vibrant focus for the entire market. It is the only show where buyers can meet the whole market face to face in a friendly environment to discover new plants and benefit from many special show offers. Glee Nursery features growers from the UK and world-wide including Italy, Holland, France, Spain, Germany and Denmark. UK Regional Growers, a group of smaller local nurseries showcasing more specialist plants, will also be attending.
Retail Services: Hall 3/3A
Retail Services offers products, strategic advice and guidance on how to enhance your customers’ entire retail experience including space-planning, design and building services, merchandising and displays materials, shelving, EPoS, catering and recruitment services.
Landscaping: Hall 4
Glee Landscaping combines inspiring displays and ideas with the raw building materials that are needed to create the most impressive garden layouts, structures and designs. Visitors come to source trend setting products and ideas in stoneware, statuary, terracotta pots, gates, greenhouses, paving, timber, decking, walling and garden structures from hundreds of suppliers.
Machinery: Hall 5
Glee Machinery is a well-supported, specialist section totally dedicated to garden machinery including lawn mowers, chainsaws, shredders, trimmers and hedge cutters.
Garden Care: Hall 5
One of the most visited and varied sections of Glee – and the cornerstone of most garden retail businesses – Garden Care encompasses all the essentials for garden maintenance. Strong brands lead the way complemented by smaller, novel products. This year the Garden Care section will be sponsored by The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company.
GLEE LEISURE
Outdoor Living: Halls 1 & 2
The biggest outdoor furniture trade event in the UK offering the latest in outdoor lighting, garden heating, pools and spas. The section also features the popular Garden Living Café lounge and refreshment area
Home and Gift: Hall 3/3A
A thriving source of added value garden retail profit, Home & Gift is an eye-catching sector showcasing all kinds of home accessories, gifts, clothing, food and lifestyle products.
GLEE PETINDEX
Petindex: Hall 6-8
Petindex is where you’ll discover the biggest suppliers, best brands, exclusive offers, latest lines and traditional favourites in the areas of food, fashion, accessories, grooming, aquatics and bedding. The show also features free-to-attend retail seminars and grooming demonstrations.
Visitors to Glee will be also able to take advantage of a number of new attractions and buyer-friendly “product trails” this year.
Glee Nursery will be home to a new Nursery Merchandising area, designed as a unique opportunity for nursery exhibitors to demonstrate the effectiveness of well designed merchandising areas. Mock point-of-sale set-ups and product demonstrations in “actual” retail environments will highlight the potential of expert plant presentation, inspiring retailers to revamp their approach to merchandising and stock options.
Glee’s Going Green Trail, first introduced in 2007, will be expanded to help buyers pinpoint even more environmentally friendly suppliers, products and processes. Visitors keen to source eco-friendly ranges will be able to plan their day by searching for Going Green exhibitors on Glee’s interactive website www.gleebirmingham.com, by using the listings in the Glee catalogue on sale at the show, or by looking out for the Going Green logo on participating stands.
A new Creative Britain Trail has also been created to highlight the best British products throughout Glee. It has been designed to benefit both UK buyers looking to source local, British products offering a reduced carbon footprint, and international buyers seeking unique and authentically British products.
The Glee World Network, which highlights export opportunities; and a new Trade Trail, enabling visitors and buyers to identify exhibitors who sell to trade as well as retailers, provide two additional buyer resources during the show.
“As always we have paid careful attention to enhancing the show’s offer, organisation and marketing in every way possible,” says Daniel Thurlow, show director. “Last year’s new, buyer-friendly exhibition layout proved extremely successful and will largely be repeated this year. Amongst other developments we are pleased to announce the evolution of Glee Petindex to expand the veterinary sector; Glee Outdoor Living is to host one of our popular Glee Seminar Theatres; and there will be a special merchandising attraction in Glee Nursery for the first time.
“Exhibitor bookings have been excellent across the show, and we are pleased to say Glee has already attracted over 120 brand new exhibitors this year. As the only annual show to encompass such a wide range of buying categories Glee certainly remains Europe’s ‘show of all shows’, and that’s why despite challenging economic times we expect to deliver a very well attended, well received event this September.”
WHERE:
National Exhibition Centre (NEC), Birmingham, Halls 1,2,3,3A, 4,5,6,7 and 8
WHEN:
Sunday 21st to Tuesday 23rd September, 2008 – 09.00am to 6.00pm (5.00pm on final day)
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
http://www.gleebirmingham.com/
Free entry to all visitors who pre-register on the website
