IGC Show Receives Enthusiastic Response
IGC Show 2019 recently finished its 13th year and its first year at Lakeside | McCormick, Chicago, which brought everything together in one area and on one level.
Buyers noted the expansion of product represented this year, and both first-time and returning attendees reportedly expressed enthusiasm about the show’s single-floor layout. In addition, vendors were pleased with the foot traffic and order writing on-site.
With a focus on innovation this year, the show included several Continuing Education @ IGC stages on the show floor. From houseplant displays and grab-and-go container planting demos to new ideas on how to serve today’s customer and retain employees, the topics were timely and engaging.
The morning keynotes gave attendees new ways to look at their businesses – from customer eye-tracking research to outside-the-box thinking strategies from a former Doobie Brother, and Millennial musings from a top radio personality.
In the IGC Retail Lab, a new retail symposium and interactive design forum on the show floor, Garden Center Makeover Expert Judy Sharpton got attendees thinking and talking about the most impactful ways to sell trends in the gathering spaces at their stores.
Wednesday evening’s concert with Jefferson Starship continued the networking after the show floor closed for the evening. “There’s a back story to this one,” says Jeff Morey, IGC Show Co-Founder and CEO. “We had originally booked the band Starship with Mickey Thomas. Then I got the call Monday as I was on the plane to Chicago that Mickey was on a surgical table for a slipped disk and had to cancel. Thankfully, our longtime concert coordinator Rae Nicks jumped in with the offer from Jefferson Starship, with co-founding member David Freiberg and longtime drummer Donny Baldwin, to fill the slot. So everyone got to see them perform the hits they loved, and the crowd loved it.”
IGC Show returns to Chicago’s Lakeside | McCormick on August 11-13, 2020, with a special focus on the future on independent garden center retailing. For more information, visit www.IGCShow.com.
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