For the 124th time since 1939, the International Housewares Association (IHA) will bring the home and housewares community together at The Inspired Home Show 2024, 17 to 19 March at Chicago’s McCormick Place Complex.

By the time the Show opens, more than 1,700 exhibitors will be welcoming buyers in a newly configured layout over three full days. The Show will open on Sunday 17 March and close on Tuesday 19 March from 8.30am to 5.30pm each day. A power hour from 5.30 to 6.30pm on Sunday and Monday will allow buyers and exhibitors to complete meetings in progress at Show end; appointments are recommended.

The new layout has the Wired + Well Expo moving from the Lakeside Centre to the North Hall, co-locating with the Clean + Contain Expo. Exhibits and displays located in the Lakeside Centre Lobby, including the Smart Home Pavilion and Inventors Corner, will now be located in the North and South Halls. The International Sourcing Expo will return to Level 1 of the North Hall.

“We’re excited about the new configuration as it creates the most vibrant, productive and efficient trade show experience possible for buyers and sellers,” says Derek Miller, IHA president and CEO.

“Positioning the three primary expos, which also includes Dine + Décor, together in the North and South Halls, brings the industry’s core categories into a central location that is much easier and more efficient to navigate with quick trips between two halls now being possible.”

Buyer attendees will find newness and innovation throughout the Show from 300 first-time and returning companies, of which more than 100 well-known brands are back after an absence. These companies include Artland, BergHOFF, BSH Bosch, Cool Gear, Corkcicle, Cuisinart, Emile Henry, Fissler, J.K. Adams, Everplush-Tricol Clean, Jean Dubost, Joseph Joseph, Keurig/Dr. Pepper, Lotus Sustainables, Midea, Opinel, Range Kleen, Scan Pan, Stolzle Lausitz Glassware and Tramontina.

The new doesn’t stop there, the Show will feature thousands and thousands of new products from each housewares category along with several displays, events and opportunities to find innovation and inspiration.

New product inspiration

• The New Exhibitor Preview Gallery in the North and South Hall cafés will feature product displays showcasing new exhibitors, complete with signage identifying company name and booth number.

• Debut, a new incubator program in Booth S3262 in the Dine + Décor Expo, allows buyers to interact with 12 new-to-the-Show exhibitors that are experiencing The Inspired Home Show for the very first time.

• New product showcases in the Buyers Clubs in the North and South Halls present new products by their respective expos. Buyers and news media will be able to scan products of interest and receive a print-out for booth visit follow-up.

• The IHA Global Innovation Award for Product Design Excellence is highlighted in a display in the Hall of Global Innovation (gia) in the Grand Concourse Lobby. Seventy finalists in 14 categories are featured.

New perspectives through education

• The Inspiration Theatre will offer educational sessions each Show day in a new home in S101a, next to the Keynote sessions in S102, both on Level 1 of the South Building.

• The Inventors Revue will hold daily programming, including ‘Pitch to the Pros’ sessions in its new location on the South Hall exhibit floor near Booth S3565.

New connections through networking

• Free lunch for buyers and news media in the cafés in the North and South Halls.

• A Celebration of Independents—an invitation-only reception for independent retailers on Saturday 16 March.

• Housewares Young Professionals Event (HYPE)—an annual networking event hosted by the Young Professionals Advisory Council, Sunday from 5.30 to 7pm at the VU Rooftop connected to McCormick Place.

• Global Innovation Awards (gia) Gala—this invitation-only event on Sunday night recognises and honours the best in home and housewares retailing, product design and student innovation with the announcement of the Global Honourees.

• Networking After Dark Reception—all buyers, news media and International Business Council members are invited to continue Show discussions and network over cocktails and hors d’oeuvres, Monday from 5.30 to 7pm at S100/Grand Ballroom, South Building.

• Housewares Charity Foundation Housewares Cares Gala—honouring Herb Landsman, executive vice president (retired), The TJX Companies, Lifetime Humanitarian of the Year, and Kristen Stevens, vice president/GMM of Home, Culinary and Electronics at QVC, Humanitarian of the Year. Tickets to support the charity and to attend the gala, being held Monday, 6pm at the Four Seasons Hotel, are available online.

For more information about Show events, visit the website.

The Inspired Home Show, IHA’s global home + housewares marketplace, will be held 17 to 19 March at Chicago’s McCormick Place Complex. For more information about the 2024 Show and to register for a Show badge, please visit the website. To search for new products that will be at the Show visit Connect 365, the Show’s online directory.