The Retail Interiors Expo — a joint venture of VM+SD and ExpoNation (Atlanta) — has finalized its “Design Firm Challenge” as part of this new event for the retail store planning, design and visual merchandising communities taking place May 17-18, 2006, at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont, Ill. (across the street from Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport).
“The Design Firm Challenge” will feature 10 of the nation’s leading retail design firms presenting their solutions to real-world design challenges from some of the nation’s largest retail chains. Those 10 firms are: Jacobs Carter & Burgess Inc. (Fort Worth, Texas), Chute Gerdeman (Columbus, Ohio), Design Forum (Dayton, Ohio), FRCH Design Worldwide (Cincinnati), Little Diversified Architectural Consulting (Charlotte, N.C.), Mancini Duffy (New York), Miller Zell (Atlanta), nParallel (Minneapolis), (Columbus, Ohio) and Winston Retail (San Francisco).
Five designers will report on Wednesday morning (May 17) and five more designers on Thursday morning (May 18). In addition, each design firm will staff a presentation on the Expo floor to explain its approaches and solutions one-on-one to attending retailers.
The new event will focus on the needs of the nation’s 200 largest retail chains in the fields of store fixturing, visual merchandising and interior store design products. ExpoNation produces trade and consumer events nationwide. “The event is designed to bring together the ‘best of the best’ in products and services,” said ExpoNation executive vp Russ Eisenhardt, “to provide seasoned, experienced retailers with an opportunity to take their product and supplier searches to the next level in a smaller, more efficient, more targeted and more structured environment.”
Retail Interiors Expo will feature two distinct and defined pavilions to house store fixtures and visual merchandising products and services. None of the exhibits will be in excess of 800 net square feet, an effort to help retail attendees better navigate the show floor. Exhibitors are being encouraged to give thought and attention to their exhibits, showing the “best” and “newest” in display solutions and products for the retail interior environment.
“Representatives of retail chains will find true VIP treatment at this new event,” said ExpoNation’s Jeanne Phillips. “Bigger isn’t always better when you’re trying to find that just right something to include in your design. Focused attention to our pavilion concept is designed to provide a more efficient and upscale opportunity for retail designers and visual merchandisers to find what they need”, Phillips concluded.
In addition to “The Design Firm Challenge,” Retail Interiors Expo will also present “The Retail Design ROI Report,” spotlighting retail teams that developed and produced successful in-store, design-based marketing efforts and produced winning return-on-investments for their retail chains. Each award-winning team will present during panel presentations on Wednesday and Thursday mornings following “The Design Firm Challenge” presentations. The presentations are designed to give retail designers the information they need to get management acceptance of new design-based marketing proposals.
Attendees will also be invited to participate in a “Chicago Retail Tour” hosted by VM+SD’s editor, Steve Kaufman. Kaufman will host a limited number of participants in a “behind the scenes” tour of retail locations and renovations chosen by VM+SD editors in downtown Chicago, including a luncheon hosted by one of the retailers. The tour is scheduled for Tuesday, May 16.
A special welcome reception, part of the Expo’s “VIP Retailer” program, will be held on Tuesday following the retail tour, and an opening day reception will be held on Wednesday. VIP retailers will also be given access to a special registration and business lounge during the event, treated to peer-to-peer mingling sessions and offered a complimentary concierge appointment-setting service to arrange for meetings with selected exhibitors and design firms.
“We’re designing a better experience for retailers,” said Phillips. “Retailers need a place to find what they need more efficiently and an event that recognizes the level of professionalism that senior designers and specifiers have achieved. We’re building that kind of event for our participants.”
For more information on the event, contact Jeanne Phillips at ExpoNation: 770-649-0300, extension 16.