January brings in a new year, but it also marks the start to a busy trade show season.
The shows were busy this winter! There was a lot of traffic and we had a great response to all of our new products and colors. It is always fun to see so many of our customers. Thank you all for making the trip to our booth!
First stop: Atlanta, GA for the Atlanta International Gifts & Home Furnishing Market.
High Design moved to a new location with high ceilings and bright lighting and we are all loving it. Unfortunately we didn’t get any pictures of the booth once it was all set-up. I guess we were too busy!
Since we come to Atlanta at least twice a year, we have built up a repertoire of our favorite restaurants. There is nothing like a great meal and a glass of wine after a long day standing on your feet.
Here are some of our favorites:
Wholefoods: stock up on breakfast items and snacks
Serpas: This was our first time - it was a little hard to find, but so worth the trip! We’ll be going back next July.
Wisteria: We have been coming back time after time and they haven’t let us down yet. The vegetable platter (for meat eaters and vegetarians alike) is to die for.
Corner Bakery: Aha! Our trusty lunch spot. We send Larry to pick up our order and the staff knows him by sight now!
The Flying Biscuit: Nancy & Larry have hit up this joint for a tasty and fun brunch. They recommend the biscuits of course!
Set-up in Atlanta:
Next stop…The big apple for the New York International Gift Show.
We always love coming to New York. However, we felt lucky to leave with all fingers and toes this year - it was so cold!
We moved to the Javits from the Piers and had a brand new booth. We had to work around a column in our booth, so the great folks at Display Designs built us walls that surrounded the column with some eye-catching light boxes. It was a long set-up, but we survived….and we loved how it turned out.
New city…new wonderful restaurants! Here are some of our new finds and old standbys:
Bond 45: A customer recommended this place to us and we go at least once while we are in town. We went twice this trip! We order antipasto, salads and thin crust pizzas and share family style - we don’t even bother with entrees. The pizza and antipasto are out of this world. Don’t forget to grab some complimentary house made treats (chocolate fudge or toffee) on the way out! Our friends from CatStudio & Goody Goody joined us for dinner this time.
House made mozzarella at Bond 45. YUM!
Other favorite eateries in NY include:
Morandi: We tried this one for the first time on a recommendation from Lora of Quality Time. We will definitely be coming back. Authentic Italian.
Other favorites: Esca, Balthazar, Taboon.
Set-up in New York:
Our completed booth in NYC!
Amanda & Kristen took off to Women’s Wear In Nevada (WWIN) in Las Vegas, NV.
Set-up for this show is different than the gift shows. We use a paper wall and can choose fun, bright colors. We had a turquoise wall this apparel show.
We’ve been across the aisle from White Rice ever since we started this show and it is fun to see them twice a year.
Our favorite restaurants in Las Vegas are Todd English’s Olives at the Bellagio and Lavo at the Palazzo.
Kristen with our short little mannequin at WWIN
Next up: The Natural Product Expo West March 12-14 in Anaheim, CA. This show has everything from food to beauty supplies to apparel to cleaning products. We eat lunch by testing out all the organic food samples on offer! It’s lots of fun!
Do you have any recommendations for us while we are in Atlanta, New York, Las Vegas or Anaheim? Please share them with us!
Cheers,
Chelsea
