The International Housewares Association (IHA) and gift and home trade market operator Andmore today announced a new, eight-year partnership that will bring The Inspired Home Show to AmericasMart, co-located with Winter Atlanta Market beginning in January 2028.
The Inspired Home Show’s final Chicago show will take place in March 2027, ahead of its Atlanta debut alongside Winter Atlanta Market, January 11–16, 2028.
The co-location with Winter Atlanta Market will bring The Inspired Home Show into a permanent showroom, cross-category marketplace model for the first time in its 88-year history, adding year-round showrooms to its annual trade show presence. The co-location will expand AmericasMart’s dedicated housewares and tabletop footprint tenfold, according to Andmore.
The Inspired Home Show has been one of the world’s largest and most important housewares trade shows, drawing more than 10,000 retailers and industry professionals and more than 1,000 exhibitors annually. Shifting from a temporary-only trade show held every March in Chicago, the show, beginning in January 2028, will operate from dedicated “neighborhoods” throughout the AmericasMart campus in downtown Atlanta, IHA and Andmore said. The Inspired Home Show in Atlanta will split evenly between showrooms and trade show space and place them alongside complementary categories to facilitate cross-sourcing by buyers, according to the show operators.
“This is the next chapter for our show that has always been about connection, bringing the industry together to discover products, build partnerships and grow businesses,” said Derek Miller, president and CEO, International Housewares Association. “Atlanta gives us a platform to do that in a whole new way, together creating the biggest sourcing marketplace for the industry. We’re proud to build this next chapter with a partner who shares our commitment to the people who make this community so special.”
The Inspired Home Show will be presented alongside the Winter Atlanta Market, AmericasMart’s premier gift and home show, giving buyers access to The Inspired Home Show’s exhibitors and more than 6000 complementary gift and home brands already at the market. The partnership follows the model Andmore established in 2023 when the International Casual Furnishings Association (ICFA) moved its 60-plus-year-old Casual Market to AmericasMart, a partnership that has grown steadily every year since, according to Andmore.
“We’re grateful for IHA’s trust in choosing Andmore and AmericasMart for The Inspired Home Show’s next chapter,” said Amory Wooden, Andmore’s executive vice president and chief revenue officer. “This partnership dramatically expands our housewares and tabletop offerings, giving buyers even more reason to source across categories in one trip. And it signals that the permanent, cross-category marketplace model has true staying power in our industry.”
The timing is central to the partnership’s value. Winter Atlanta Market provides home and gift buyers with their first major sourcing event of the calendar year, and it is where retailers set assortment and sourcing direction for the months ahead, Andmore noted. With The Inspired Home Show’s national retailer base becoming part of the expanded market, buyers will be be able to build housewares and tabletop sourcing into their plans for the entire year in one trip, according to IHA and Andmore.
Andmore’s Wooden and other Andmore executives are scheduled to attend this week’s IHA CHESS conference to discuss the show partnership with IHA member company executives. CHESS is set for September 29-30 at the Hilton Rosemont near Chicago’s O’Hare airport.
In the following exclusive interviews with HomePage News, principals of the new partnership between IHA and Andmore share details and insights on the move to co-locate The Inspired Home Show with the Winter Atlanta Market beginning in January 2028. HomePage News Editor-in-Chief Peter Giannetti talked with Derek Miller, president and CEO of IHA; Mike Otterman, CEO of Lodge Cast Iron and outgoing IHA chairman; Tom McMahon, president of Jura, Inc. and incoming IHA chairman; and Amory Wooden, executive vice president and chief revenue officer of Andmore.
Derek Miller
President & CEO, International Housewares Association
HomePage News: Share some considerations about the evolving retail housewares market and trade show landscape that factored into the decision for IHA to partner with Andmore.
DM: The entire marketplace has changed significantly. We live in the internet age where consumers have more buying options than ever before. At the same time, there’s been retail consolidation at the national level and pressure put on smaller retailers trying to survive at the local level. Product suppliers must introduce a continual flow of innovative new products to stand out from the crowd — some thrive at the commodity level, but in today’s hyper-competitive market, most need to continually innovate to survive.
Trade shows are where retailers and product suppliers intersect. Given this important position, trade shows need to adapt and innovate to ensure they are offering the most value to the industry. This is done by creating dynamic, meaningful and efficient marketplaces. IHA has long been willing to partner with other fairs and organizations to bring value to the industry, and the partnership with Andmore is a supercharged version of that effort.
HPN: How will the co-located show further benefit housewares suppliers and retailers?
DM: By bringing housewares together with gift, IHA and Andmore will create one of the largest marketplaces in the world for home products. One supershow at the beginning of the year where retailers can see all aspects of the industry and where product suppliers can have meaningful meetings with the highest concentration of buyers, both large and small.
Mike Otterman
CEO, Lodge Cast Iron, outgoing IHA Chairman
HPN: Can you share some insight into the considerations that led to the decision by the IHA Board of Directors to explore and approve the co-location of The Inspired Home Show with Winter Atlanta Market beginning in January 2028?
MO: The legacy and power of The Inspired Home Show has been tested over the last number of years. Due to brand and retailer consolidation in our industry, fewer exhibitors were showing, therefore attracting fewer retailers. The opportunity existed to reestablish the power of The Inspired Home Show by leveraging partners to expand our tent. The relationship with Andmore, AmericasMart and the Winter Atlanta Market truly creates a “Super Show” for all things home. Exponentially more brands will be on display in one place, providing a fresh environment for more retailers and buyers to gather. The format also increases efficiencies for everyone involved and gets a jump on the year by kicking off the trade show season in January. Collectively, this reimagined show approach will benefit the entire home industry for years to come.
Tom McMahon,
President, Jura Inc., incoming IHA chairman
HPN: Jura has leased showrooms for several years at Andmore’s Atlanta and Las Vegas market centers. Share how your experiences with those showrooms have benefitted Jura.
TM: Andmore is a great partner. The team is easy to work with and has accommodated special requests as our business has grown and evolved. Jura has had permanent showrooms in Atlanta and Las Vegas for 16 and 11 years, respectively. We use them for Winter and Summer markets to debut new product launches, meet with current and new retailers and create a premium space for a hands-on coffee experience. Beyond the market dates, our showrooms are designated for product training and demonstration sessions for independent specialty stores and manufacturer reps, national sales meetings, special events and more.
HPN: What advantages do you expect from the co-location of The Inspired Home Show and Winter Atlanta Market beginning in January 2028?
TM: This new co-location announcement between The Inspired Home Show and the Winter Atlanta Market, and the January timing, is exciting and motivating, creating a “must-see” event for the housewares industry. Having attended the Winter Atlanta Market for over 30 years, I know how impactful that show is to our national and independent retailers. They want a first look at new products and trends, to meet with vendors and to start making purchasing decisions. This also significantly streamlines costs for retailers and brands who currently attend both shows. For Jura, we will enhance the premium coffee experience in our permanent showroom, with dedicated meeting rooms and expanded hands-on space for our fully automatic coffee machines. I look forward to the first joint gathering of The Inspired Home Show and Winter Atlanta Market in January 2028.
Amory Wooden
Executive Vice President, Chief Revenue Officer, Andmore
HPN: What attracted you to the opportunity to partner with IHA?
AW: Honestly, it’s the caliber of the show itself. The Inspired Home Show has been one of the largest and most important trade shows in its category for more than 80 years. When an organization with that history and that scale is willing to build its next chapter with us, that’s not something we take for granted. It’s validation of a model we believe in: that the future of wholesale is permanent showroom, cross-category marketplaces, not single-category shows operating in isolation.
HPN: Please tell us what you’ve learned from the Andmore partnership with International Casual Furnishings Association (ICFA) on the Casual Market now held in Atlanta that is applicable to the forthcoming partnership with IHA.
AW: A few things, and they’ve directly shaped how we’re approaching The Inspired Home Show.
First: Identity matters enormously. Casual Market Atlanta launched with its own branding, its own identity as ICFA’s show, hosted on our campus. That’s exactly the model we’re following with The Inspired Home Show.
Second: Demand can move faster than plans. We expanded Casual Market’s exhibit space by 50% ahead of its very first show because interest outpaced our original projections. We’re planning The Inspired Home Show’s buildout with that lesson in mind rather than being caught flat-footed by it.
Third: Growth compounds when the fundamentals are right. Casual Market’s footprint reached nearly 400,000 square feet within five months of launch, and it’s grown every year since. It’s now the largest concentration of casual and outdoor resources anywhere. That trajectory is exactly what gives us confidence in what’s ahead for The Inspired Home Show.
HPN: For those who might not know, please explain the dynamic of a permanent showroom experience versus a traditional temporary trade show.
AW: The simplest way to think about it: A temporary trade show means rebuilding your presence from scratch every single show. You ship product in, you build out a booth, and at the end of the week, you tear it down and ship whatever didn’t sell back out. Win or lose, that cycle repeats every time.
A permanent showroom breaks that cycle entirely. You are in the same space with the same neighbors, show over show. Your buyers don’t just know where to find you; they build your showroom visit into their market routine. Your merchandising improves season over season instead of restarting from zero. And instead of one week a year to sell, your showroom is working for all of the shows and markets hosted annually, from the major shows to smaller shows and sample sales, and you can host buyers in your showroom any day and time, as the market centers are always open. It’s not a nicer booth. It’s a fundamentally different way of doing business.
HPN: What are the timetables for leasing and buildout relative to The Inspired Home Show in January 2028? What are your plans for outreach to IHA members?
AW: We’ve built a deliberately staged runway rather than asking anyone to make a snap decision. We’re honored to be joining IHA at its annual CHESS meeting this week — to start making connections and giving folks an overview of how the permanent showroom and temporary tradeshow model works at AmericasMart Atlanta, and evaluating what will be the best fit for each business.
Leasing conversations and campus tours for prospective exhibitors will happen this fall. From there, we’ll set non-binding interest, co-create floorplans with IHA, and conduct a formal space-selection process for exhibitors before the end of the year to give everyone more than a year of runway before the January 2028 debut.
On outreach: This started with IHA’s own leadership reaching directly out to key exhibitors, to be followed by educational webinars on the leasing process, in-person campus tours and direct conversations with our leasing team throughout this fall and winter. Conversations will continue and relationships will be built not just at one moment in time but over the course of time. And, for those ready to start planning and building a new space together, our team is ready and eager to start securing the best locations.
HPN: What can you share about the relative costs to lease, build and exhibit in a permanent showroom in Atlanta? What services are offered by AmericasMart to help with the buildout and move-in?
AW: At a high level, and nearly across the board, we expect permanent showroom and temporary exhibitors will see savings around 10%-20% compared to past The Inspired Home Shows. And, when you account for what most exhibitors spend rebuilding a temporary presence every single show — drayage, labor, lost selling time — against a permanent showroom that stands and sells for you year-round, most exhibitors are going to see real, meaningful savings. Of course, this varies by size and category, and that’s exactly the conversation our leasing team is set up to have directly with each exhibitor.
HPN: Please tell us more about the AmericasMart campus and, specifically, the space allocated for The Inspired Home Show.
AW: AmericasMart is a three-building campus in downtown Atlanta with more than 7 million square feet in total, with 51 floors of showrooms and temporaries across the three buildings, hosting the nation’s largest mix of gift products alongside home décor, furnishings, apparel and the largest outdoor living presentation in the country.
The Inspired Home Show’s footprint will be split evenly between permanent showrooms and trade show space, plus a dedicated International Sourcing Pavilion, and it’s woven directly into the neighborhoods where it makes the most sense for buyers to cross-source, not tucked into a separate building. We’re also renovating a dedicated demo kitchen, so exhibitors can show their products doing what they do best, and building an IHA Welcome Center that’s unmistakably IHA’s own space at the center of the new neighborhood.
HPN: Can you share some details about the type of retailers that currently attend Winter Atlanta Market? What is the outreach plan for independent, regional and key national retailers that attend The Inspired Home Show? What about international retailers? What support services are offered to retail buyers?
AW: Winter Atlanta Market draws retailers and designers from every state and more than 60 countries, sourcing across gift, home décor, furnishings, apparel and outdoor living for everything from independent specialty stores to major national retail buying organizations. Major buying accounts who regularly attend the market include TJX, Amazon, Williams-Sonoma, Crate & Barrel, Wayfair, Target and Anthropologie, as well as top department stores such as Bloomingdale’s, Macy’s and Nordstrom; all of which are exactly the target buying audiences for The Inspired Home Show exhibitors.
We’re working closely with IHA to make sure their retailer base understands exactly what’s changing and what stays the same through joint communications in the months ahead.
