A new jewellery event is to launch alongside Clarion Retail’s flagship gift show Top Drawer in January 2008.

The move proves yet again that despite falling attendance figures indicating the exhibition industry is in decline, some of the more creative organisers are achieving success and launching new events.

Clarion Retail portfolio director Andy Baxter announced the new show, called Collections, at Top Drawer 2007 this weekend in response to wholesaler and independent retailer demand.



“While we have seen a significant growth in the proportion of jewellery within Top Drawer, we have always maintained that Top Drawer is a gift-driven platform with jewellery therein, and not the other way around,” explained Baxter, “In addition, some of the top-end collections being displayed would not necessarily suit the gift buyers attending Top Drawer, so the inevitable response on our part is to cater for demand by delivering a separate environment and audience, with content that attracts the jewellery retailer first, and a gift retailer second. By running the events adjacent to each other, the buyers can then select their events at will.”
 

Clarion Retail portfolio director Andy Baxter

Initial response to the new jewellery show brand has been “extremely encouraging”, according to Baxter, who took the reigns at Clarion Retail in 2000. The home and gifts division of the Clarion Group now includes Pulse, Top Drawer, Home and Gift, as well as the Scottish Trade Fairs, and accounts for over £10 million of the company’s rapidly growing turnover.

For more information about Collections visit www.clarionevents.co.uk