Stationery Show London attracts retailers, influential buyers and brands in the stationery, gift and fashion sectors to deliver a mix of established and brand-new paper and writing instrument suppliers. The show returns in April when it opens at the Business Design Centre in Islington, north London.
The show’s regular LaunchPad competition will deliver up to 12 new hopefuls to the event, each having already garnered approval from this year’s five judges, all of whom have either started or helped to launch businesses in the stationery industry. The LaunchPad winners, alongside over 50 first-time exhibitors and 100 plus show regulars will be keen to make the most of the audience the show delivers.
Hazel Fieldwick, Event Manager said, “stationery is a core product for many retail stores; it fulfils the role of an everyday essential, an ‘on trend’ impulse buy, a stylish and useful gift and, just as importantly, a carefully chosen personal accessory.
“The product mix at Stationery Show London reflects this broad appeal and offers visitors a depth of product choice and knowledge from all corners of the retail stationery market.”
A key part of the visitor offer are the show’s Stationery Awards which last year attracted just over 400 entries across 12 product categories from exhibitors. For the first time a panel of senior stationery buyers will undertake the task of judging the products before the show, with finalists being announced in the run-up to the show, and the winners revealed on the first evening of the show.
New for 2019
Two new sections have been added to the Stationery Awards this year – there are five new Retailer Categories, and a new Designer Category sponsored by GO Stationery.
The show’s ‘Trends Hub’ has also been moved to centre stage on the mezzanine level to allow for more space and there has been the creation of a ‘Designer Area’ just next to the New Product Showcase display.
Live Talks and Workshops
- Presentations covering ‘The State of Stationery’ from Rebecca Saunders, an independent retail and ecommerce consultant
- ‘Review of what’s really happening on the UK’s High Streets’ by Head of Retail Policy for the Federation of Small Business, Michael Weedon, of EXP2
- Presentations from trend translator Phil Pond of Scarlet Opus
- Retail entrepreneurs NearSt promise to make retailers stock easily searchable on Google
- Creative Stationery Workshops
- Ian Retallick, Founder of Specialist Retailers will speak about ‘How soft assets can attract more customers to your store’
- Retail consultant Catherine Erdly, of Future Retail will cover ‘Five key figures you need to know to boost your sales’
2019 Exhibitor Line Up
Stationery Show London will have over 150 exhibitors representing many more brands at this year’s show.
Regulars include AT Cross, Bi-silque, Collins Debden, Derwent, eco-eco Stationery, Edding, ExaClair, GO Stationery, Hainenko, Manuscript Pen, Maped Helix, Mustard, Nuco, OSCO, Otima Grafica, Pentel, Pukka Pads, Shachihata, Stabilo, Staedtler, uniball and Zebra Pen.
A full programme listing of these free Trend Tours, Live Talks, Retail Workshops and Creative Stationery Workshops will be published shortly on the show website www.stationeryshowlondon.co.uk. The show takes place on 30th April & 1st May at Business Design Centre, London N1 0QH. Register free via www.stationeryshowlondon.co.uk.
