It has been announced today (March 26) that the Progressive Greetings Live 2020 trade show will be going ahead, having been postponed to Wednesday 2 September and Thursday 3 September. The dedicated greeting card show will take place in its ‘home’ of the Business Design Centre in London’s Islington. (The original dates of the show were 2-3 June 2020).
“The absolute top priorities right now have to be on keeping everyone safe and being there for each other, meaning that the June timing of PG Live was untenable. What has come across loud and clear from those in the greeting card community is that they wanted us to find a later date for the show, rather than cancel it for this year,” explained Warren Lomax, co-show director of PG Live. “Amid all the bad news, being able to confirm the new dates 2-3 September means that we all now have something to look forward to.”
The greeting card community has responded very positively to the news that PG Live 2020 will now be happening three months later than originally planned.
“We are so happy that we have a new date planned in for PG Live – it is like a ‘ray of sunshine’ giving us all something to look forward to in these uncertain times,” commented Karen Wilson and Claire Williams, co-owners of Paper Salad. “Hopefully by September the worst of it will be over, and we can all rebuild our businesses and re-connect with all our wonderful friends in our fabulous industry!
Sharing her thoughts, Kate Leach, Woodmansterne’s head of marketing said: “This is very good news. Much better to have a postponement than a cancellation! It is the right thing to reschedule it to a later date, giving something for the industry to work towards in the future that will hopefully be a joyful coming together once all this is all over!”
Giving the date move his endorsement from a retailer perspective, Miles Robinson, co-owner of House of Cards said: “This is absolutely the right decision – we don’t want to miss that show! We’re all going to have a big ‘reset’ and knowing that PG Live is happening in early September is something to really look forward to.”
Agreeing with Miles, Steve Baker, sales and marketing director of Pigment said “By September people will be desperate for a fresh start. It’s so good to know that ‘The Show Must Go On’!”
John Procter, managing director of Scribbler was equally enthusiastic about the news. “Fantastic! We will absolutely be needing PG Live by then; everybody will be so hungry for new ranges and keen to discover new publishers.”
As Matt Genower, managing director of Five Dollar Shake and Counting Stars highlighted with the current ‘lockdown’ Christmas buying will be much later, making the early September dateline for PG Live this year all the more appropriate. “PG Live in September? Like many publishers, springtime usually coincides with a Christmas launch of some kind. Staring at Santas and snowflakes may just be the very last thing our independent customers will want to do in the next couple of months! My feeling is Christmas will be left late. Wouldn’t it be brilliant if come September, life was just a little bit back to normal, footfall on the high street again and tills ringing. Boy are we all going to wish for a happy Christmas!”
The PG Live website is being updated over the next few days and all exhibitors and registered visitors are being contacted.
Anyone with any queries should contact Warren Lomax, co-show director on warrenl@max-publishing.co.uk or 07977 572086.
The 2021 PG Live show will revert to its usual early June timeline.
Top: Everybody will be together at PG Live 2020, in September instead of June this year.
