The ‘jewellery trade fair season’ begins next month with Victoria hosting the Melbourne Jewellery Fair March 4-5 at the Royal Exhibition Building in Carlton Gardens, while the Brisbane Jewellery Fair takes place March 25-26 at the Brisbane Exhibition Centre in Southbank.
For the second consecutive year Australia will stage three jewellery fairs, with Sydney hosting the main event in September.
Director for wholesaler Ellani Collections, Paul Hicks, told Jeweller last year’s Melbourne fair was well supported and set in a positive atmosphere.
“I expect Melbourne to be even better for me this year,” Hicks said. “After a great Sydney fair and Christmas I’ve acquired a lot of new accounts and Melbourne has left me constantly busy.”
Hicks stressed the importance of having a third fair, saying it’s a great opportunity for retailers around the country to build relationships with suppliers and vice-versa.
“Australia and New Zealand is so spread out that it’s almost impossible to see everyone so the Melbourne and Brisbane fairs are great for everyone to come together,” Hicks added. “Retailing can be a tough gig at the moment so for them to see the wholesalers and form a view of where their business should head is beneficial.”
Duraflex Group director, Phil Edwards, said Thomas Sabo and Spinning Jewelry are launching new ranges at the Melbourne and Brisbane fairs.
“We’re using both fairs to launch two different products and hope to attain good feedback and high attendance rates,” Edwards told Jeweller. “We will have representatives from Thomas Sabo visiting Melbourne and overseas reps will be coming to Brisbane as well.”
Edwards intends to use both fairs as a solid testing ground for future years, with the supplier paying close attention to attendance and retailers’ feedback.
“It’s unusual having two fairs so close together but this year’s fairs will be a testing ground for our new range of products,” Edwards said. “It will be a good chance to monitor retailers’ feedback and keep track of attendance levels.”
Registration
Fair organiser, Expertise Events advises that visitors to the 2011 fairs will have received a new Buyer Identification card making registration simple. Visitors with a blue photo card need only to mark the dates and present the card upon entry to the Melbourne and/or Brisbane fairs for immediate access.
Visitors still holding a past gold buyer card will be required to update their registration and new visitors or those updating their record can download a registration form from the Jewellery Fair website.
Expertise Events managing director, Gary Fitz-Roy said, “With three fairs along Australia’s east coast, the JAA Jewellery Fairs are an ideal chance for jewellery retailers to top-up their stocks and get in-tune with the latest trends after Christmas.”
Both the Melbourne and Brisbane trade fairs will each present over 90 exhibitors offering finished jewellery, retail services, watches and jeweller’s supplies.
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