Exit for Canadian retail association

According to a report in Hardlines, the Canadian Retail Hardware Association has ended its work. The association had been active in the interest of its members for 98 years, but a lack of revenue has forced it to give up. A majority of the organisation’s means accrued to it from organising the Canadian Hardware and Building Materials Show. Recent changes in the retail landscape and the uncoupling of the building trade fair to become an independent event resulted in the number of exhibitors going down from 700 in the eighties to around 150 this year. Next year’s exhibition will be organised by Messe Frankfurt at the Toronto Congress Centre from 19 to 22 February under the new name of H²X Canada – Hardware and Home Improvement Expo + Conference.