ATLANTA — In what is being hailed as one of the most significant structural transformations in the history of the housewares and tabletop industries, ANDMORE and the International Housewares Association (IHA) have announced a monumental eight-year partnership.
Beginning in January 2028, the renowned Inspired Home Show will permanently relocate to AmericasMart Atlanta, co-locating alongside the Winter Atlanta Market. This strategic alignment breaks decades of tradition, moving the event away from its historic springtime temporary-only footprint in Chicago and embedding it into a permanent, cross-category marketplace model for the first time.
The move instantly expands AmericasMart’s dedicated housewares and tabletop footprint tenfold, establishing Atlanta as the undisputed epicenter for global home goods, lifestyle, and gift sourcing.
Main Facts
The landmark agreement fundamentally reshapes how retail buyers, manufacturers, and designers will interact with the housewares market moving forward.
- The Relocation: After generations as a March temporary tradeshow in Chicago, The Inspired Home Show will transition to a permanent, hybrid model split evenly between year-round showrooms and temporary tradeshow spaces.
- New Venue and Timing: The debut Atlanta event is scheduled for January 11–16, 2028, running concurrently with the Winter Atlanta Market at AmericasMart Atlanta.
- Footprint Expansion: The partnership multiplies AmericasMart’s dedicated housewares and tabletop capacity by ten times, weaving specialized "neighborhoods" throughout the expansive campus.
- Ecosystem Integration: The show will operate alongside more than 6,000 existing gift, home, and lifestyle brands already housed within the AmericasMart ecosystem, giving buyers an unprecedented multi-category sourcing destination under one roof.
- The Final Chicago Bow: The Inspired Home Show will host its final traditional event in Chicago from March 9–11, 2027, before officially inaugurating the Atlanta era in 2028.
Chronology of a Transformation
To understand the magnitude of this transition, it is helpful to look at the evolution of modern tradeshows and the specific trajectory that led to this historic cross-country move.
The Chicago Legacy
For decades, the International Housewares Association’s flagship event served as the definitive springtime gathering for the housewares community. Held annually in Chicago, the show functioned primarily as a temporary tradeshow. While it successfully connected manufacturers with national buyers year after year, it existed as a standalone event on the spring calendar, requiring retailers to budget a separate, dedicated trip outside of their early-year gift and home sourcing cycles.
The Rise of the Cross-Category Model
In recent years, the retail landscape underwent a radical shift. Retailers increasingly demanded operational efficiency—seeking out platforms that allowed them to cross-source across multiple categories during a single trip.
ANDMORE demonstrated the viability of this integrated approach in 2023 when it successfully transitioned the Casual Furnishings Association’s (ICFA) 60-year-old Casual Market to AmericasMart Atlanta. That transition proved that legacy tradeshows could not only survive relocation to a permanent marketplace model but thrive and expand year-over-year. Buoyed by this success, IHA and ANDMORE began formulating a vision that would bring housewares into the same synergistic ecosystem.
The Timeline Ahead
- March 9–11, 2027: The Inspired Home Show holds its final iteration in Chicago, closing out a legendary chapter in the Midwest.
- Throughout 2027: Manufacturers, brands, and organizers coordinate the massive logistics required to build out the new permanent showrooms and temporary neighborhoods across the AmericasMart campus.
- January 11–16, 2028: The inaugural Atlanta-based Inspired Home Show debuts co-located with the Winter Atlanta Market, marking day one of the eight-year partnership.
Supporting Data and Structural Integration
The integration of The Inspired Home Show into AmericasMart is not merely a change of venue; it is a total redesign of physical space and sourcing logistics.
A Tenfold Footprint Expansion
By moving to AmericasMart, the housewares and tabletop sectors will see their dedicated physical footprint scale up by a factor of ten. Rather than relying solely on temporary booth setups for a few days in March, participating brands will occupy dedicated neighborhoods seamlessly woven throughout the multi-building AmericasMart campus.
Crucially, the physical layout will be split 50/50 between:
- Permanent Showrooms: Offering brands a year-round physical presence to host key accounts, display full collections, and conduct business outside of market weeks.
- Tradeshow Spaces: Providing the high-energy, temporary discovery environment that tradeshow veterans rely on for spotting emerging trends and startup brands.
The Power of Co-Location
Timing is a core pillar of the partnership’s value proposition. The Winter Atlanta Market traditionally serves as the retail industry’s premier kickoff event of the calendar year—the exact window when independent boutique owners, major department store buyers, and e-commerce moguls set their merchandising strategies, budgets, and assortment directions for the months ahead.
Previously, housewares buyers had to divide their strategies across separate trips. By synchronizing The Inspired Home Show with the Winter Atlanta Market, buyers gain simultaneous access to:
- The newly expanded housewares and tabletop neighborhoods.
- Over 6,000 complementary gift, home, and lifestyle brands already anchored in Atlanta.
This eliminates market fragmentation, allowing procurement teams to fulfill all cross-category sourcing requirements—from decorative accessories and gourmet kitchenware to textiles and tabletop goods—in a single, highly efficient trip.
Official Responses
Industry leaders from both organizations have expressed immense enthusiasm for the partnership, framing it as a vital evolution designed to serve the changing needs of global retailers and manufacturers.
Derek Miller, President and CEO of the International Housewares Association, emphasized that the move honors the community’s core mission while embracing modern efficiencies:
"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 Miller. "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."
Amory Wooden, Executive Vice President and Chief Revenue Officer at ANDMORE, highlighted the strategic validation the partnership brings to the permanent marketplace model:
"We’re grateful for IHA’s trust in choosing ANDMORE and AmericasMart for The Inspired Home Show’s next chapter," Wooden stated. "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."
Broader Implications for the Retail and Tradeshow Industry
The migration of The Inspired Home Show to Atlanta carries profound implications for the broader retail and exhibition landscape.
1. The Death of Single-Silo Sourcing
For decades, trade organizations operated in vertical silos—home furnishings in one city, giftware in another, and housewares in a third. The success of ANDMORE’s integrated campus model, further cemented by the IHA partnership, proves that the modern retailer operates holistically. Consumers do not shop by "tradeshow category," and retailers increasingly refuse to travel by them. By clustering complementary categories into one massive, cohesive marketplace, Atlanta is setting a new global standard for trade events.
2. Year-Round Commerce Meets Event Energy
The hybrid model—combining permanent showrooms that operate 365 days a year with high-impact market weeks—offers manufacturers unprecedented stability. Brands are no longer restricted to generating 80% of their annual trade buzz during a frantic three-day window. Instead, they can maintain a professional, permanent commercial hub in the Southeast while leveraging the peak traffic of the January Winter Market.
3. Economic Impact on Atlanta
The addition of thousands of international and domestic housewares buyers, media personnel, and exhibitors to the Winter Atlanta Market solidifies AmericasMart’s status as the premier commercial hub for the home and gift industries. Local hospitality, transport, and service sectors are poised to see a significant economic boost as the January market expands into a massive, multi-industry mega-event.
Looking Ahead
As the countdown begins to the final Chicago showcase in March 2027, anticipation within the housewares community is reaching a fever pitch. The eight-year commitment between ANDMORE and the IHA provides long-term stability and strategic clarity for manufacturers and buyers alike.
By marrying the heritage and reach of The Inspired Home Show with the world-class infrastructure and cross-category power of AmericasMart Atlanta, the industry is stepping boldly into a more efficient, interconnected, and dynamic future. Retailers can officially circle January 11–16, 2028, on their calendars—marking the dawn of a brand-new era in housewares sourcing.
