New lease of life for Petindex

With 24,456 visitors, the organizers of the garden fair scored a major success. As reported by the organizer Trade Promotion Services, many visitors spent several days at GLEE, underlining the attractiveness of the fair. There was considerable interest from abroad in particular: the fair welcomed 2,202 visitors from 84 countries outside Great Britain, compared with 1,482 for-eign visitors from 67 countries the year before. “GLEE 2002 is an important ‘milestone’ on the path to a garden fair that is also regarded as an international event,” stressed David Metcalfe, chairman and managing director of Trade Promotion Services, to PET in Europe.
The Russel Road Show on the Supreme Petfood stand.
The exhibition organizers intend to concentrate more closely on exclusive product groups in future. One example of this is the landscape gardening sector, which Metcalfe claims is very successful and which was presented in three halls this year. It is expected to play a major role in future years too. The organizers of GLEE are also aiming to achieve high growth rates for exhibitors and visitors in years to come with a high-quality, innovative concept that David Metcalfe refers to as “Avant-Gardening”. “We want to present the garden to visitors as part of the living space”, he explained. When it comes to competition with the market leader, the Gafa exhibition in Cologne, Metcalfe commented that GLEE is favourably positioned. He felt that many people in the gardening sector viewed the Cologne exhibition as an obligatory event, without any great enthusiasm, as they always came across the same range of products. “On the other hand, companies come to GLEE because they find a number of innovations here every year”, Metcalfe commented.
Rena presented its big range of aquariums.
Integration of the pet fair Petindex into GLEE also met with a good response from the majority of exhibitors as well as the organizers  “It’s the best Petindex that I’ve attended so far,” claimed the marketing manager of one major pet food manufacturer. In view of the prominent status enjoyed by garden centre chains in the pet product trade in the UK, the decision to amalgamate the two fairs was a welcome one, according to the sales manager of a large aquatics company. All the main international suppliers in the pet sector were present in Birmingham, with few exceptions. “Two very large pet product manufacturers who were absent this time have already confirmed that they will be here next year,” said…