Picture this at PG Live

Check out the snaps in this round-up of the big 2024 trade show

Two days of fun, laughter, catching up with greeting card industry pals and, of course, doing business are over for another year, with positive vibes coming from the many who attended and exhibited at PG Live 2024.

With a record 220 exhibitors and an incredible range of buyers, retailers, and distributors through the doors – including Barkers, Blue Diamond Garden Centres, British Museum, Cardfactory, Cards Galore, Cardzone, Clintons, Elphicks, Fenwick, Fortnum & Mason, Funky Pigeon. Harrods, House of Cards, Huttons, Jarrolds, John Lewis, Kew, Lark, Longacres, Oliver Bonas, Marks & Spencer, Moonpig, Morleys, Morrisons, National Trust, Notcutts, Paper Tiger, Postmark, RHS, Sainsbury’s, Scribbler, The Stock Shop, Temptations, Tesco, Thortful, TJX, TK Maxx, Utility, Waterstones and WHSmith – the 16th edition of the UK’s only specialist trade show for greeting cards proved to be one of the best yet.

There are loads of pictures showing what went on, and they can be downloaded for free here – here PG Buzz looks back on just a few of the snapshots from the Business Design Centre over Tuesday and Wednesday, 4-5 June.

Above: Deals were being done throughout the show with Hugs & Kisses’ Caroline Ranwell so keen she ran from the opening photo shot on the stairs to order with Lorraine Bradley at Rush Design before the doors had officially opened, and turned it into a Sunshine ticket order, then Austin & Co’s Sean Austin snuck in his Sunshine ticket order at Stoats & Weasels just as the tannoy sounded to close the event.

Above: The now traditional Dean Morris and Sarah Laker, of Stationery Supplies, silly show pic had a Titanic theme, while Dean managed to tick a selfie with a Minion off a bucket list he didn’t know he had!

**Above: Tickets galore! Retas and Greats nominees and winners had plenty of Golden, Silver and Sunshine tickets to spend – can you see yours!**

**Above: And those tickets make the exhibitors very happy!**

Above: Cards appeal to young and old. At 91, Elizabeth Walsh has been in greetings retail a long time at Good Wishes, and spent her Cardgains voucher with Carl Pledger at Nigel Quiney, while the show’s youngest visitor was little Ruby born on 1 May to Sanne and Josh at Crystal Palace store Ivy And The Wolf – mum Sanne may be on maternity leave but just couldn’t miss out on PG Live!

**Above: Party time after the doors closed on the first night**

**Above: Cheers to this year’s Retas Awards nominees at the champagne reception**

**Above & top: Upstairs in Springboard the newbie exhibitors had a good show**

Above: “It’s fantastic! There’s a lovely vibe and we’ve already made a couple of orders. We walked the show in the morning and will spend in the afternoon. We’ve taken on a brand-new range for children, Pigment’s new range, and Woodmansterne has some fantastic additions to their ranges. It’s a fantastic show because we haven’t got to waste time on other things, we just concentrate on cards. At most shows people are sort of miserable, here people are always happy and have more time to talk and ask questions, it’s great. We do sell gifts as well but they take some time to pick up, examine, etc, and we find at other shows we don’t go in to the card hall.”
Deb and Paul Crane, Paperweight, Cardiff