Quality buyers attend Harrogate

The UK's nursery sector headed for Harrogate in the last week of March to enjoy three days of business, networking and socialising with industry colleagues.

The new mid-week format for the show this year appears to have been popular with many exhibitors commenting that the third and final day was more productive than usual, with many of the major retailers choosing this day to place orders.

Diapk Tanna of Sheldon International commented: "On the second day of the show we were busy from the start. However, we don't usually get many customers on the final day, but this year we took four good orders. It was fantastic for us and we will definitely book for next year."

The last day was also busy for Red Kite with Debra Tucker of the company saying: "Red Kite decided at the last minute to exhibit again as we have previously exhibited every year and wanted to continue supporting the show. We are really pleased that we made this last-minute decision as we had a really positive and upbeat show! As usual the event gave us the opportunity to showcase some new product launches from which we received fantastic feedback from buyers and customers. Most key buyers attended the show and I would say we definitely had our busiest ever last day at a show!"

Babystyle continues to support Harrogate year after year and Anthony Butters of the company said: "It's was a pleasure to visit Harrogate in the springtime as usual and we had a very good turnout of customers, I think that those customers who made the effort to come have really benefited from some great show offers (exclusive to show attendees) and the relaxed atmosphere was conducive to business. A big thank you to all our customers who attended and who we very much enjoy seeing year after year."

Once again, the Baby Products Association had a significant presence at Harrogate with a Car Seat Advice Centre hosted by Cybex and Maxi-Cosi and the announcement of its annual industry awards – Concept & Innovation and BANTAs.

Lisa Walford of Baby Safe Ltd was announced as winner of the Concept Award for Safe Sleep Seat – a baby car seat that reclines by remote control; and Lucy Bostock of More-2-Explore for Adventure Belt – a fun safety belt to keep parents connected to their children when out an about in busy areas. These were both presented with trophies by Sara Ludlam of 3volution – official sponsor which will be offering the winners free legal advice. A full list of BANTA winners, highly commended and short-listed products can be seen on the website at www.thebpa.eu.

The Association's seminars were also well attended with Neil Millard of Babycare TENS commenting: "The seminars were absolutely fabulous this year and have all been fantastically useful with relevant information for any company doing anything in this industry."

Adrian Sneyd, show organiser, concludes: "Harrogate International Nursery Fair has been an annual event for the UK nursery industry for over 40 years and we are pleased that it is still considered an important occasion for sourcing new business and networking for many retailers and suppliers. We thank everyone participating and supporting the show this year and hope to see everyone again in 2018."