With the lowdown from the Excellence in Housewares Awards, alongside the usual news, views and industry insight, the latest issues of Progressive Housewares and Progressive Tableware Worldwide are available to read online now.
The October issue of Progressive Housewares is available to read online here. What an absolute pleasure it was to welcome so many of you to the Excellence in Housewares Awards earlier this month, to celebrate not only the worthy winners of the retail, product and supplier awards, but also the industry as a whole.
The quality of entries made the judging process harder than ever this year, so much so that we expanded the numbers in the finalists lists across the board as it was just impossible to whittle them down any further. That’s down to the wonderful product innovation and service from the suppliers across all categories, and the true brilliance of retailers across the board in our sector.
The only change I would like to make to the EIH Awards, is to make the evening longer, so that I could get to chat to you all. But the PH team would like to thank you all for joining us, for supporting us, and for supporting one another in one of our favourite nights of the year.
A big part of this issue of Progressive Housewares is to celebrate the winners of the awards and find out their initial reaction to their accolade, from overwhelm, to shock, to many happy words.
I must also pay special mention to two of the evening’s winners. Firstly BHETA’s Seema Grantham, who won the Outstanding Achievement Award and was, quite rightly, welcomed to the stage by a standing ovation from the audience. Seema’s acceptance speech was rounded off with one of her famous ‘Seema’s selfies’ with all of the guests behind her. Congratulations Seema.
Another highlight of the evening was Lakeland’s Malcolm King, who won the Retail Employee of the Year. Malcolm has been working for Lakeland for 50 years, and PH was lucky enough to sit down and find out more about his long career. Turn to page 86 to read about it.
Elsewhere in the issue, we take a closer look at the knives sector from page 74, finding out what innovation there is in the sector and what suppliers’ top tips are for retailers in this area. We also look at the cleaning, utility and storage sector from page 60, finding out what the latest trends, new products, and what factors affect consumer purchasing decisions in the sector.
And as we head into the all-important Christmas trading period, we find out how retailers are feeling ahead of the season and what their expectations are during the difficult trading conditions.
With this issue of Progressive Housewares, comes the latest issue of Progressive Tableware Worldwide. We’ve delved into the serveware sector, to find out what’s new, what’s trending and how the sector is faring. It seems that while consumers are being understandably more careful in their purchasing decisions among economic pressures, they are placing an importance on entertaining at home and making meals and gatherings more special.
From page 16, we talk to Rosanna Bowles, designer and founder of Rosanna, about her Italian-inspired serveware collection and the inspiration behind her designs, from travelling to cultures, to gourmet food and memories of her own childhood.
Tableware as a whole is also seeing a moment in the spotlight as consumers come together. A key focus is sustainability, which is seeing both consumers and restauranteurs focusing on what materials are used, how ethically products are produced and also their durability.
Soon after Christmas, the industry’s focus will be firmly on Ambiente, and the show organisers, Messe Frankfurt, have outlined an exciting plan for the 2024 edition of the show, with expanded halls, themed days, great content and appearances and a return of many key players to the international trade fair platform.
