The nation’s independent retailers literally turned out in their thousands for this year’s Big Brands Trade Shows – the in-house trade events organized by leading wholesalers Stax Trade Centres and Wishart.

Over the course of the two shows, held in Manchester and Falkirk during September and October, more than 4,000 people attended to take advantage of all the shows had to offer.

Savvy retailers came from all over the UK and Ireland to meet and buy from more than 100 leading brands representing some of the biggest names in the DIY, garden, tools, electrical, plumbing and homewares sectors.

An attendance uplift on last year’s shows by 50% resulted in record visitor numbers and record sales, highlighting significant optimism for the sector.

Stax MD David Hibbert commented,
“We had communicated the show well to our customers, they arrived clued up on all the offers that were available, and they came to buy. Some suppliers reported several container loads of sales orders, which is not only great news for Stax, but also displays a more positive buoyancy for the coming months in the DIY, home and garden sectors.”

Many suppliers praised the format of the shows – which were starkly different in format. Set right in the heart of Stax’ Head Office branch, the Manchester show took the entire 100,000 square foot floor space amongst the racking and shelving. In contrast, Wishart opted to host the Big Brands Show Scotland offsite, at one of the largest conference centres in Scotland – the McDonald Inchyra Grange.  

Stax Purchase Director Simon Wright commented,
“The relaxed environment at both shows proved to be a real success. This was certainly reflected in the large numbers of orders placed and positive feedback from our suppliers who exhibited. Suppliers were very happy with the results of the show. Our exhibitor survey showed almost all retailers increasing their year on year orders, despite the success of the 2012 shows!”

The Big Brands Shows form part of Stax’ busiest trading period of the year, following on from Glee and culminating with the release of both Stax’ bumper Christmas Trade Buys promotion and the release of Stax & Wishart’s 300+ page 2014 Garden Collection, which launches in December. 

For more information on Stax or Wishart visit www.staxtradecentres.co.uk or www.wishart.co.uk