News

SHOW T.O. expands for January 2024 event

SHOW T.O., Canada's permanent showroom venue for the gift and home trade, expanded its showroom collective with the addition of four new permanent showroom members. SHOW T.O., which already boasts over 110,000 square feet dedicated... more »

Formal Markets, Mon Cheri Academy introduce 2024 educational program

ANDMORE Formal Markets and Mon Cheri Academy partnered to produce a yearlong educational program with in-person courses at two Formal Markets — April 8 in Atlanta and Aug. 10 in Las Vegas — supplemented with... more »

Gift for Life relaunches website, creates single destination for donors

Gift for Life, a charitable organization in the gift and home industries, is kicking off the new year with a newly redesigned website. Giftforlife.org is designed to be a clean, easy-to-navigate website that allows both... more »

Winter 2024 Atlanta Market presents gourmet product sourcing, programming

Winter 2024 Atlanta Market offers gourmet product sourcing and category-specific programming this January, complete with live cooking presentations and GCX: Start the Year, a full schedule of events and education presented by GC Buying Group,... more »

Retail sales grow this holiday season

U.S. retail sales — excluding automotive — increased 3.1% year over year this holiday season, according to preliminary insights from Mastercard SpendingPulse. This measures in-store and online retail sales, running from Nov. 1 through Dec.... more »

Joan Ulrich retires from Dallas Market Center

Joan Ulrich, who has spent decades in leadership roles across the market center and trade show landscape, from Chicago to New York to Los Angeles to Dallas, is retiring in March 2024.  For the past... more »

NRF says $743B in merchandise returned in 2023

Total returns for the industry amounted to $743 billion in merchandise in 2023, according to a report released by the National Retail Federation and Appriss Retail. As a percentage of sales, the total return rate... more »

Papersalt launches sister brand for expanded giftware

Papersalt will debut its sister brand, Salty, in January 2024. The new line includes more traditional gift categories, expanding the company’s offerings beyond Papersalt’s current books and... more »

Carolyn Rafaelian launches jewelry brand &LIVY, partners with Ivystone

Jewelry industry icon Carolyn Rafaelian launched &LIVY — a new brand of American-made, eco-friendly jewelry aimed bring to market affordable, high-quality and meaningful designs to amplify wearers’ intentions and connect people. &LIVY is designed to... more »

ANDMORE welcomes industry partners for winter markets

ANDMORE is hosting 23 buying groups for education and networking this winter at its Atlanta Market (Jan. 16-22, 2024, at AmericasMart Atlanta) and Las Vegas Market (Jan. 28 – Feb. 1, 2024, at World Market... more »