Slight visitor increase at Kortrijk

The 31st DIY & Homing trade fair – the first in the new two-yearly schedule – came to an end with a slight increase in attendance figures. More than 3 000 representatives of the industry, or nearly two per cent more that two years ago, travelled to Kortrijk, Belgium, from 29 September – October 2013. The total number of exhibitors went down by 16 per cent to 138. Information from the organisers suggest that the decline was mainly due to the garden sector, which suffered badly from the poor spring season. Taking these results as a framework, organisers Kortrijk Expo have decided to maintain the two-yearly schedule and stage the next DIY & Homing in 2015. However, it is not yet certain whether they will stick with the autumn date or move the event to the spring. Very good attendance figures were recorded for the two seminars on the Monday and Tuesday mornings. Erik Haegeman, the new CEO of Brico, spoke to an audience of 115 about the current market position of parent company Maxeda. Kees Van Opdorp, managing director of Husqvarna Benelux, took as his subject “blurring markets”. For the eighth time this year’s fair invited applications for the “Stars in the box” competition for new products. A jury of five representatives of the retail scene selected Soudal’s Genius Gun, a foam-triggering device, as the best new product and Distrisales’ Toope connector element as the best ecological product. The visitors voted for the Soft Glow illuminated door bolt from Metafrance as their favourite.