Reed Adds Its Hardware Show to Garden Expo

Collocation at Toronto center to mix gardening with home improvement

By Margo McCall -- Tradeshow Week, 2/20/2006

It looked like Canada was going to be without a national hardware show this year. That is, until Reed Exhibitions formed a partnership with the Landscape Ontario Horticultural Trades Assn.

As a result, Reed will launch Natl. Hardware Show Canada Oct. 17–18 at the Toronto Congress Centre alongside Landscape Ontario's Garden Expo featuring Florist Expo — Canada's Fall Buying Show for the Green Industry.

The collocation is expected to greatly add to the size of the 6-year-old Garden Expo, which ranked No. 45 on the Tradeshow Week Canadian 50 for its 2004 event that drew 3,611 people to a 51,250 net square foot showfloor with 297 exhibitors.

Reed's U.S.-based Natl. Hardware Show last year drew 34,616 attendees to 681,891 net sq. ft. of exhibit space with 3,123 exhibiting firms, according to TSW research. The U.S. show's exhibit floor is expected to grow to 750,000 net sq. ft. this year and 850,000 net sq. ft. by 2007, organizers said.

Paul Day, who manages Landscape Ontario's tradeshows, said he'd been looking for a collocation partner for the past five years when Reed called. "They'd heard that I'd been running a successful event, and we did the deal in less than a day," he said.

The hardware show will be located in a hall adjacent to the Garden Expo, which was spun off from the association's January Congress — Canada's Intl. Horticultural Lawn and Garden Trade Show and Conference to serve exhibitors that wanted an event held prior to the holiday season. The 2004 version of Congress ranked 12th on the Canadian 50. In 2003, it was a TSW Fastest 50 winner.

The collocation reflects a changing market in which garden retailers also sell hardware items and other goods in order to compete with big-box retailers. "The number of retailers in the garden industry has been decreasing. When you look at any retailer, be it a garden ware store or a hardware store, they're trying to be a one-stop shopping area like the chains," Day said. "That's the only way they can compete."

Reed also uses a collocation strategy for the Las Vegas show, having added George Little Management's Gourmet Housewares Show last year in recognition of the broadening array of goods carried by hardware stores.

Mixing hardware and gardening accomplishes the same aim. "By bringing together all the varied product categories that make up the entire home market, the shows will mirror consumer and therefore retailer needs across North America," stated Rob Cappiello, industry vice president for both hardware shows.

Michael McLarny, editor and publisher of the Hardlines industry newsletter, said his company has agreed to add its 10-year-old Hardlines conference, drawing 300 high-level hardware industry buyers, to Natl. Hardware Show Canada. Hardlines was part of last year's Natl. Hardware Show in Las Vegas.

"Our conference is the key event in Canada that's bringing the industry together. We weren't sure the Canadian industry needed a show again. But if anyone can pull it off, Reed can," McLarny said.

There's been a void in the market since the demise of the century-old Canadian Hardware & Building Materials Show, produced by the Canadian Retail Hardware Assn. The 1999 show reached 10th on the TSW Canadian 50, with 13,000 attendees, 850 exhibitors and a more than 150,000 net sq. ft. showfloor. Four years later, it had shrunk to half that size.

The association brought in Messe Frankfurt to revamp the show, but went out of business soon after that. Messe Frankfurt proceeded without the association's support, launching the H2X Canada Hardware & Home Improvement Expo & Conference and D2X Canada Décor & Design Expo & Conference, Feb. 19–22, 2005, at the Toronto Congress Centre. Together, they drew 148 exhibitors and 1,787 attendees. However, Messe Frankfurt doesn't list H2X or D2X in its current roster of shows.

Steve Payne, publisher and editor of industry trade publication Hardware Merchandising, doubts that the new Reed show will reach the size of the defunct Canadian Hardware & Building Materials Show. But at the same time, it's hard to imagine the $35 billion Canadian hardware industry having no annual gathering outside of the big-box outlets' corporate events.

"Is there still room for one independent national gathering? I think the answer is yes, if it's fast, relatively inexpensive, easy to get in and out of, and if there are enough other things at the event you'd want to be involved in," he said.

Payne said his magazine believes in the possibility enough to move its annual retailer awards ceremony alongside the hardware show.

Although there's no national hardware competitor in Canada, a number of regional events have sprung up. The Lumber & Building Materials Assn. of Ontario, one of the hardware show's previous co-sponsors, in 2004 launched the LBMAO Winter Buying Show, a London, Ontario, event that draws about 150 exhibitors each February.