ASTRA Marketplace & Academy 2027Booth costs, dates and deadlines: the Pittsburgh exhibitor guide

ASTRA Marketplace & Academy 2027 runs June 6 to 9, 2027, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. ASTRA's future-dates page also lists the 2028 show for June 11 to 14 in Reno, Nevada. The 2026 edition ran June 5 to 8 in Milwaukee.

In Pittsburgh. ASTRA has published the city and dates, while the building itself is not confirmed yet; in 2026 the show used The Baird Center in Milwaukee. We plan your freight and labor for the Pittsburgh building as soon as ASTRA names it.

The 2027 exhibit hall days are not confirmed yet. In 2026 the Marketplace floor opened on three days, Saturday June 6 to Monday June 8, after two move-in days on June 4 and 5, and every display had to be in place by 4 p.m. on the second move-in day.

ASTRA's 2027 booth space rates are not confirmed yet and member and non-member rates differ. The booth itself is the larger cost: a 10×20 rental runs $7,500 to $15,000, and a custom 20×20 island $50,000 to $120,000. Flooring is mandatory and power is extra.

Standard 10×10 linear booths, which can be combined, 10×30 runs sold to one company, 5×10 half booths for first-time ASTRA exhibitors with one to five products, and islands of at least 20×20 (2025 rules). ASTRA does not allow endcap, peninsula or split island booths.

Linear booths may not rise above their 8-foot back drape, and anything over 4 feet sits in the rear half. A 10×30 sold to one company may use 8 feet in its center 10 feet. Islands may use their whole footprint up to 14 feet.

Hanging signs are prohibited at ASTRA, and rigged or overhead signs are not permitted. A banner may hang along the back wall from the drape frame, but not above the 8-foot drape. For islands we build a freestanding tower within the 14-foot limit instead.

ASTRA's rules require each exhibitor to declare that every product shown complies with the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act, including third-party testing, labeling and General Conformity or Children's Product Certificates. Products that do not comply may not be exhibited.

Independent specialty toy retailers come to buy, alongside manufacturers, sales representatives and other specialty toy professionals; ASTRA restricts the exhibit floor to registered, badged attendees and exhibit staff. Retailers look for show-only discounts, so we plan a counter where store owners can place an order on the spot.

The American Specialty Toy Retailing Association (ASTRA), the member association for specialty toy retailers and the companies that supply them, runs Marketplace & Academy and assigns booth space by priority points. ASTRA members also choose The Toy Foundation's Specialty Toy of the Year.

In 2026 exhibitors could unload their own passenger vehicles and hand-carry materials in Milwaukee, and ASTRA's 2025 rules require any outside labor company to be filed as an exhibitor-appointed contractor three weeks before the show, with insurance. The 2027 labor rules depend on the Pittsburgh venue, not confirmed yet; Purple files as your exhibitor-appointed contractor once it is.

Floor covering is mandatory in every ASTRA booth and not included in the package. If you bring your own, you notify the official decorator in writing 30 days ahead, and anything left behind draws a $1,000 fine. We ship and remove our own flooring.

We rent ASTRA kits from a 10×20 up: back-wall shelving kept under the 8-foot drape, low play tables for the front half, printed graphics, LED lighting and interlocking flooring. Freight, labor and dismantle are priced on one fixed proposal.

A Toy Fair booth can work at ASTRA once it is cut down. Toy Fair's taller builds and hanging signs do not fit ASTRA, where linear booths stop at 8 feet and hanging signs are banned. We design kits whose back wall drops to 8 feet and whose tower works as a freestanding element, so one booth covers both shows.