Independent Garden Center Show


The Independent Garden Center Show is held every year since 2007 in Chicago, IL, in the United States.

History

The first IGC Show was held on August 21–23, 2007, at Chicago's Navy Pier.
In 2014, the show organizers started hosting the IGC Show at a second location for the industry's Eastern market. In 2014, IGC East convened August 5–7 at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in National Harbor, MD. In 2015, IGC East relocated to the Baltimore Convention Center in Baltimore, MD. In 2016, the East Coast event relocated to the Valley Forge Casino Resort August 2–4. It featured a new format targeting the special interests of Eastern IGC retailers with regionally focused keynotes, educational conference sessions, and networking opportunities, including Tuesday evening's concert.
IGC Show 2018 reconvened at Chicago's Navy Pier, August 14–16. In 2019, citing ongoing construction at IGC Show's home for the past 12 years, Navy Pier, the trade show was moved to McCormick Place.
IGC Show 2019 was hosted in the new home, the Lakeside Center at McCormick Place, of the independent garden center industry buying and educational event, presenting all the networking opportunities and other features of the show in one central area right on the exhibit hall floor.
It was created by husband-and-wife founders and producers Jeff and Cheryl Morey, who are also co-directors of Garden Centers of America and publishers of IGC Magazine. The IGC Show is one of the largest trade shows, conferences and networking events for independent garden center owners, managers and buyers. It is geared toward independents only — no big-box stores are represented or allowed into the event. It is not open to the consumer public.
The IGC Show presents garden center products available at wholesale from around the world. It is a juried show so every exhibiting company has been screened to ensure the products offered for sale are relevant to independent garden centers.
In addition to the trade show, the IGC Show hosts an educational conference on topics relevant to garden centers, such as customer service, inventory, signage, social media, store design, advertising, and more. Each day before the trade show opens, a keynote speaker, who is a prominent figure in the garden center industry or an expert in business or a related field, starts the day.
The IGC Show offers a newly redesigned networking hub, the IGC Networking Lounge, located in the center of the main trade show hall for garden retailers to connect with their peers and charge their portable devices. "Shop Talk" Retail Discussions, located in the IGC Networking Lounge and facilitated by a moderator, give retailers the opportunity to share their thoughts on a range of garden retailing topics, including marketing strategies, minimum wage increases, and getting younger customers shopping.
The New Vendor Zone presents garden center buyers, managers, and owners with a sampling of companies that are new to the IGC Show and garden center industry. The New Product Zone features new products and plants submitted by vendors all across the show's exhibit space. A special contest was started in 2017 to award the Best New Product and the Best New Plant featured in this zone. Garden center retailers voted for their favorite products and plants, and the first-place and runner-up products and plants received award ribbons.
In 2017, the first place Best New Product award went to Kreative Gardens of Miami, FL; the second place Best New Product award went to Potwheelz Garden Dolly of Gulf Breeze, FL. In 2017, the first place Best New Plant award went to Regal Petticoat Maple from Sester Farms in Gresham, OR; the second place Best New Plant award went to 'Gold Breeze' Zebra Grass from Hortech in Spring Lake, MI.
In 2018, the contest was held again, awarding the first place Best New Product honor to TrashCan of Portsmouth, NH; the second place Best New Product award went to Grass Flip Flops of Westlake Village, CA. Also in 2018, the first place Best New Plant award went to Hollywood Hibiscus from J Berry Nursery of Grand Saline, TX; the second place Best New Plant award went to Endless Summer Hydrangeas Summer Crush from Bailey Nurseries of St. Paul, MN.
The 2019 first-place award for Best New Product went to the Complete Grow Kits from A Pot for Pot of Oakland, CA; the second-place Best New Product award went to the Fir Needle Products from Bedrock Tree Farm of Wakefield, RI. Also in 2019, the first-place Best New Plant award went to a colorful, showy air plant arrangement composed of Yellow Star, Large Capitata Maroon and Tropiflora from Russell's Bromeliads of Clermont, FL; the second-place Best New Plant award went to the First Editions Iceberg Alley Sageleaf Willow from Bailey of St. Paul, MN.
The 2019 show unveiled the IGC Retail Lab, a new 3,500-square-foot retail symposium and interactive design forum, right on the trade show floor, designed to help IGC owners turn their stores into gathering spaces that capitalize on the most popular consumer trends: ReWild, ReJuvenate, ReTreat and ReTurn.

Dates and locations

2019 – Mark Belling, Top-Rated Radio Talk Show Host & Commentator
2019 – Jeff Baxter, Rock Musician and Consultant to U.S. Department of Defense
2019 – Dr. Bridget Behe, Professor of Horticultural Marketing at Michigan State University
2018 – Bob Negen, retail expert and speaker
2018 – Daymond John, Founder of FUBU, entrepreneur and resident "Shark" on ABC's Shark Tank
2018 – Dr. Charlie Hall, Professor and Ellison Chair in International Floriculture at Texas A&M University
2017 – Bob Phibbs, CEO of The Retail Doctor
2017 – Robert J. O'Neill, former SEAL Team Six Leader with Naval Special Warfare Development Group and author of the memoir The Operator: Firing the Shots That Killed Osama bin Laden and My Years as a SEAL Team Warrior
2017 – John Stanley, international IGC retail consultant of John Stanley Associates
2016 – Corey Bordine, Consultant for MonkeyBar Management and former president of Bordine Nursery
2016 – Mike "Da Coach" Ditka, Pro Football Hall of Fame Legend & Analyst for Sunday NFL Countdown and Monday Night Countdown
2016 – Amanda Thomsen, Kiss My Aster Garden Blogger
2016 – Bruce Crawford, Director of Rutgers' Gardens, Rutgers University's arboretum & public garden
2016 – Jonathan Bardzik, Chef & Garden Cookbook Author
2016 – John Tierney, The New York Times Science Columnist
2015 – Martha Stewart, Founder of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Entrepreneur, Author and Lifestyle Icon
2015 – Marcus Lemonis, Entrepreneur & Star of CNBC's The Profit
2015 – Robert Hendrickson, Business Story Developer for Next New Planet, Marketing Service Provider for The Garden Center Group, and IGC Magazine columnist
2015 – Lloyd Traven, President of Peace Tree Farm
2015 – Ernest Wertheim, Father of Modern Garden Center Design and Principal of Wertheim, Van Der Ploeg, & Klemeyer
2014 – Martha Stewart, Founder of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Entrepreneur, Author and Lifestyle Icon
2014 – Corey Bordine, Consultant for MonkeyBar Management and former president of Bordine Nursery
2014 – Willie Degel, Owner of Uncle Jack's Steakhouse and Host of Food Network's Restaurant Stakeout
2014 – Henry Hutcheson, President of Family Business USA and IGC Magazine columnist
2014 – Peter Shankman, Founder and CEO of The Geek Factory, Professional Speaker and Author
2013 – Taniya Nayak, Designer, TV Personality and Host of HGTV's House Hunters on Vacation
2013 – Peter Shankman, Founder and CEO of The Geek Factory, Professional Speaker and Author
2013 – John Stanley, Global Garden Retail Expert and IGC Magazine columnist
2012 – Rick Bayless, Celebrity Chef
2012 – Corey Bordine, Consultant for MonkeyBar Management and former president of Bordine Nursery
2012 – Joe Lamp’l, Founder of The Joe Gardener Company, Garden Writer, Author and Host of GardenSmart and Fresh from the Garden
2012 – Joseph Pine, Co-founder of Strategic Horizons and Starizon Studio, and Co-author of The Experience Economy: Work is Theater & Every Business a Stage
2011 – P. Allen Smith, Author, TV Personality and Host of P. Allen Smith’s Garden Home and P. Allen Smith Gardens
2011 – Paco Underhill, Founder of Envirosell, Author and Professional Speaker
2011 – Larry Winget, Author, TV Personality and Professional Speaker
2010 – Howard Bloom, Author of Why Michael Moore is Dead Wrong About Capitalism
2010 – Corey Bordine, Consultant for MonkeyBar Management and former president of Bordine Nursery
2010 – Jamie Durie, Host of HGTV's The Outdoor Room
2010 – Josh Viertel, President of Slow Food USA
2009 – Robert Hendrickson, Business Story Developer for Next New Planet, Marketing Service Provider for The Garden Center Group, and IGC Magazine columnist
2009 – John Moore, Marketing Mastermind behind Starbucks and Whole Foods
2009 – Dr. Patrick Moore, Co-founder of Greenpeace
2008 – Corey Bordine, Consultant for MonkeyBar Management and former president of Bordine Nursery
2008 – Diarmuid Gavin, President of Diarmuid Gavin Designs
2008 – Dick Hayne, CEO of Urban Outfitters
2008 – John Kinsella, Managing Director of Terrain
2008 – John Stanley, Global Garden Retail Expert and IGC Magazine columnist
2007 – Susie Coelho, Host of HGTV's Outer Spaces
2007 – Leatrice Eiseman, Executive Director of Pantone Color Institute
2007 – Charles Fishman, Author of The Wal-Mart Effect
2007 – Robyn Waters, Author of The Trendmaster’s Guide
performed for IGC Show's 10-year celebration in 2016.

Concerts

Jeff Morey, along with his wife, Cheryl, is the Founder and Producer of the IGC Show, entering its 13th year. Jeff is the Co-director, with Cheryl, of Garden Centers of America, the nation's only association focused exclusively on the needs of independent garden centers. As the hands-on second-generation CEO and Publisher of IGC Magazine, the garden center industry's leading B-2-B publication, Jeff carries on the tradition of editorial excellence founded by his late father, Richard Morey. He draws upon 40-plus years of experience, which includes business development, marketing and editorial direction, to inspire the IGC industry to think outside the box. Jeff is known for his targeted on-stage interviews with today's thought-leaders, including Martha Stewart, Greenpeace Co-founder Dr. Patrick Moore, best-selling author and retail visionary Paco Underhill, and lifestyle celebrities such as P. Allen Smith, Jamie Durie and U.K. garden design genius Diarmuid Gavin. He has appeared on BBC television in the U.K.

''IGC Magazine''

IGC Magazine, the garden center industry's business-to-business publication. The magazine is published bi-monthly.

Garden Centers of America (GCA)

is the nation's only association focused exclusively on the needs of independent garden centers. The association provides means of networking, touring other garden center facilities, monthly e-newsletters, member profiles, and coverage of the horticulture and floriculture industry nationwide.