February 2011 Issue

The show season is off and running. As you read this, we’ve already covered the San Francisco, New York and Atlanta markets for specialty food and kitchenware. And now we’re off to Frankfurt for the first major interna- tional housewares show of the season, the precursor to the bounty we’ll discover at the U.S. housewares event of the year – the International Home + Housewares Show in Chicago.

It’s the season for new introductions, where retailers search the aisles in the hopes of discovering the next ‘big’ thing. I have to say that this year, we’re off to a great beginning. There are new innovations in every category of the business just waiting to tell a story in your store – to spark the desires of your customers.

We’ve gathered a bushel of these new products and previewed many in the pages that follow. We’ve included some video from my esteemed colleague James Mellgren and added another element that will only get better with time – our merchandising photo shoot grouping product together to tell a story all its own.

I am also taking some of my own advice in the Retail 2.0 story and working on some social media projects that will soon debut on the Gourmet Business Web site. Until then, I will see you in the aisles!

Cheers!