ROSEMONT, Ill.–The International Housewares Association announced that this year’s International Home & Housewares Show set record retailer registration, totaling more than 23,000 buyers. Overall registration climbed 6.5 percent to more than 61,700. With more than 2,000 exhibitors at the show, more than 400 were new.
“We are pleased to report these outstanding results,” said Phil Brandl, president of IHA. “In contrast to other economic news, we were pleased to see the optimism and energy among show exhibitors and attendees. Based on their input, this bodes well for the industry’s immediate future.”
The IHA also said U.S. buyer registration was up 6.2 percent across all retail channels with 16,400 registrants. The show saw a “sharp increase” in U.S. independent specialty retailers, which were 75 percent of U.S. buyers. International buyer registration increased 7.3 percent to 6,992 registrants.