Norfolk Home & Lifestyle Show helps everyone

Young entrepreneurs Kcie and Klyn Walker, Bunny Pop Shop, were selling their bracelets at the Norfolk Home & Lifestyle Show. 

Chris Abbott

Editor

Saturday, once again, was the busiest day for the three-day Norfolk Home & Lifestyle Show hosted by the Simcoe & District Chamber of Commerce, Feb. 27 to March 1 at the CIBC Aud, Norfolk County Fairgrounds in Simcoe.

“To me, it’s never about the numbers that come through the doors, it’s about the quality of shoppers that come through,” said Karen Matthews, Executive Director of the Simcoe & District Chamber of Commerce, who did not yet have a final attendance figure on the Sunday afternoon.

“You will hear vendors say, ‘We appreciate that people know they are coming to this home (and lifestyle) show, so it tends to be home owners that need work done.’ People tend to be coming for specific reasons.

“We’re lucky that this is a manageable-size show, so we can curate what (vendors) come into the show. We’re not just trying to fill spaces, we are able to specifically look for what we think home owners will want. And it sells out every year.”

Some vendors made sales on site, some took orders for the spring/summer.

“It can be a lot of one-stop shopping here,” said Matthews. “You don’t have to make a lot of phone calls because you’re finding 2-3 roofers or 3-4 window people here. You can go talk to everyone and find out what their schedules are like, find out who is available to install one window or a house full of windows or whatever. It saves you a lot of time and energy.”

Local experts on the Home & Lifestyle stage also presented valuable information on Saturday/Sunday.

“Just from looking at the crowds, the most popular one was fruit tree growing – planting fruit trees and how they can produce fruit.”

For Matthews, the show is a success when the vendors are happy – and they were already seeing it at the show.

“They are already saying ‘I want to come back next year,’ or ‘I need a double booth next year…