The Inspired Home Show 2027Exhibitor guide: booth costs, dates and deadlines in Chicago
Housewares buyers, one last Chicago March: Inspired Home Show 2027 booths
- Event dates
- March 9–11, 2027
- Exhibit hall
- March 9–11, 2027 (Tue–Wed 8:30 a.m.–5:30 p.m., Thu from 8:30 a.m. (CT))
- Venue
- McCormick Place, Chicago
4.9 star client rating10,000+ booths builtSince 20153,000+ exhibitors served
Quick answers
The Inspired Home Show 2027 in 30 seconds
The short version for The Inspired Home Show exhibitors. Every figure has its source further down the page.
- When is The Inspired Home Show 2027?
- March 9–11, 2027, at McCormick Place, Chicago.
- When is the hall open at The Inspired Home Show?
- March 9–11, 2027, Tue–Wed 8:30 a.m.–5:30 p.m., Thu from 8:30 a.m. (CT).
- How big is The Inspired Home Show?
- 1,000+ exhibitors (2026 edition).
- How much is booth space at Inspired Home Show?
- $24.50 per sq ft members, $44.00 non-members, 2027 rates, paid to the organizer.
- What does a 10×20 booth cost all-in at The Inspired Home Show?
- A Purple rental runs $7,500 – $15,000 with design, graphics, lighting, install and dismantle included. Inspired Home Show bills space and show services separately.
Official The Inspired Home Show 2027 links: The Inspired Home Show 2027 floor planThe Inspired Home Show 2027 hotelsThe Inspired Home Show 2027 booth space
Everything about The Inspired Home Show 2027 in one place
The Inspired Home Show 2027 fact sheet
| Official name | The Inspired Home Show 2027 (International Housewares Association) |
|---|---|
| Event dates | March 9–11, 2027 |
| Exhibit hall dates | March 9–11, 2027 (Tue–Wed 8:30 a.m.–5:30 p.m., Thu from 8:30 a.m. (CT)) source |
| Venue | McCormick Place 2301 S King Dr, Chicago, IL 60616 |
| Organizer | International Housewares Association (IHA) |
| Size (2026) | 1,000+ exhibitors source |
| Who attends | Senior buyers, DMMs and GMMs from 23 retail channels, from mass and warehouse clubs to grocery, hardware and e-commerce, plus 1,000+ independent specialty stores |
| Booth space | $24.50 per sq ft members, $44.00 non-members, 2027 rates source |
| Nearest airport | Chicago Midway International (MDW) and O'Hare International (ORD) |
| Hotels | onPeak, IHA's only endorsed housing company, with rates at more than 30 hotels and a free daily shuttle Official hotel page → |
| Official website | theinspiredhomeshow.com |
Official Inspired Home Show resources
The Inspired Home Show 2027 calendar
The Inspired Home Show 2027 show dates
The 2027 Inspired Home Show show days, each linked to the page that states it.
01 Purple at The Inspired Home Show 2027
Housewares buyers, one last Chicago March: Inspired Home Show 2027 booths
We build Inspired Home Show booths where a buyer from a mass, specialty or grocery chain can pick up the pan, run the blender and see the shelf story in one stop. At McCormick Place we plan freight around Teamster material handling and let your own staff help assemble.
- Mar 9–11 · McCormick Place
- 1,000+ exhibitors in 2026
- Final Chicago edition
What makes The Inspired Home Show different, and how we build for it
IHA has run its housewares fair in a traditional format since 1938, and 2027 is the last time it happens in Chicago before the move to AmericasMart in January 2028.The floor is being reshuffled for the finale: Clean + Contain, Dine + Décor and Wired + Well share the South Hall, while the North Hall becomes a Global Marketplace for International Sourcing and Global Design Points. New for 2027 are the Innovation District, which pulls Inventors Corner, gia Student Design and the Inspiration Theater together, and Discovery Park, the renamed Debut incubator. The Pet Products Pavilion adds a Puppy Park, and the SPLiCE Licensing Hub and Candle Pavilion return.
Category managers from chains such as Walmart, Target, Costco and Kohl's want the full assortment, price points and a seated room for a top-to-top meeting, because 92% of verified retail attendees buy or hold purchase authority, per IHA's 2026 registration data.
More than 1,000 independent stores attended in 2026. They want hero products they can hold, minimums and display ideas they can copy at home, and a quick answer on how to reorder.
Close to 200 media professionals covered the 2026 show. Editors test products on the spot, so they need a demo counter, a clean photo background and a sample to take back to the newsroom.
Your team in Chicago
From our two shops to the Inspired Home Show floor
For The Inspired Home Show, we build in our own shop in Fishkill, NY, and at our Las Vegas hub, ship to McCormick Place, and put our own project manager on the floor with vetted local labor for the install. A predictable 30–45-day turnaround, secure storage and a pre-show QA before The Inspired Home Show.
When your team gets to Chicago, the booth is lit and stocked. You just show up.
Inside The Inspired Home Show 2027
Inspired Home Show rules that shape your booth
IHA's 2027 standard booths are raw square footage only; exhibitors supply their own back wall, carpet and furniture unless they buy a pipe-and-drape package. We build the full booth, flooring included, so your space opens finished.
Space is assigned by seniority, built from consecutive years exhibiting, IHA membership and booth size in 2026 and 2025, then by configuration and floor plan efficiency. We design to the footprint and exposure IHA assigns rather than the one you requested.
Premium Member Space beside the main South Hall entrance requires a minimum of 1,000 and a maximum of 2,000 square feet at $34.50 per square foot. For those islands we plan four open sides and a hanging sign facing the entrance traffic.
IHA names onPeak as the only affiliated housing company and says rooms booked elsewhere are at the exhibitor's own risk. We plan crew and staff rooms through the onPeak block near McCormick Place.
IHA warns that hackers have posed as IHA staff to redirect booth payments, and says the bank details on your original invoice are the only valid account. We never handle your space payment, so that stays between you and IHA.
Programs worth planning for
Products never before seen at The Inspired Home Show may qualify for the New Product Showcase, and entries submitted by the deadline go automatically into IHA's gia Awards program.
New for 2027, Discovery Park turns the Debut incubator for smaller brands and new-to-the-show exhibitors into a park-style destination in the South Hall.
A destination for independent housewares inventors to show single-product creations and talk to buyers directly, now part of the 2027 Innovation District with gia Student Design and the Inspiration Theater.
A display of products from first-time exhibitors in the Grand Concourse Lobby, part of the show's Connection + Dwell Spaces with the gia Retail Display & Lounge and the Business Center.
The Inspired Home Show is the largest U.S. housewares fair and the place to meet mass and specialty chain buyers in one week; choose it over NY NOW when you sell kitchen, cleaning and small electrics rather than gift and design. Every consumer products show we build for, side by side →
consumer products at The Inspired Home Show
The industry behind The Inspired Home Show, in pictures
02 Booths & pricing for The Inspired Home Show 2027
Popular booth sizes at The Inspired Home Show
IHA sells raw space by the square foot, with its own 10×10 and 10×20 pipe-and-drape packages for smaller exhibitors and Premium Member Space of 1,000 to 2,000 square feet beside the South Hall entrance. We recommend a 10×20 for one hero line and a 20×20 island for a full kitchen or cleaning story, with a meeting room for chains.
A working demo counter with power for two small electrics, a slatwall of the full line at shelf height and a standing table for buyer pricing talks.
Pictured: Bright Starts, a Purple inline booth
See 10×20 rental booths →
Three zones in a row: a cook or clean demo at one end, a retail-ready endcap mock-up in the middle and a two-seat order desk at the other.
Above: Piccolo Bambino, a Purple inline booth
See 10×30 rental booths →
An island kitchen set with a running sink or cooktop demo, product walls on two sides and a hanging sign seen across the South Hall aisles.
Shown: a Purple island exhibit for hanul
See 20×20 rental booths →
Sized for Premium Member Space buyers' meetings: a closed room for chain presentations, a media demo stage and separate walls for each category.
Shown: Amazon, a Purple large-format exhibit
See 20×30 rental booths →In Purple's Inspired Home Show price
- Design work and a 3D rendering, with revisions until the Inspired Home Show layout is right
- Structure, printed graphics, counters and storage, as specified for The Inspired Home Show
- In-booth lighting and power distribution
- Installation and dismantle in Chicago, run by our project manager on the floor
- Every The Inspired Home Show show-service order and deadline tracked for you
Billed by the show and its contractor
- Booth space, paid to International Housewares Association
- Material handling at McCormick Place, when the space rate does not include it
- Electrical, internet and rigging orders for The Inspired Home Show
- Booth cleaning and any union labor McCormick Place requires
Rates to plan with for The Inspired Home Show:
- Booth space $24.50 per sq ft members, $44.00 non-members, 2027 rates source
- Premium Member Space $34.50 per sq ft, 1,000 to 2,000 sq ft, 2027 source
- Pipe-and-drape package 10×10 $4,500; 10×20 $7,900, membership included, 2027 source
- Drayage About $210 per cwt, 200 lb minimum, 2026–27 planning figure
We estimate each of these on your Inspired Home Show proposal, so the total is on paper before you sign.
Prices are all-in 2026 rental ranges for design, structure, graphics, installation and dismantle; custom builds are quoted per project. For an exact Inspired Home Show figure, try the booth cost calculator; the 2026 booth cost guide has the ranges.
Tell us your Inspired Home Show booth size and what the space has to do. You hear back within one business day, and a rendering with a fixed Inspired Home Show proposal usually follows within a week. No charge.
Your people arrive at McCormick Place to a lit, stocked booth. You just show up.
03 Built by Purple
Booths to look at before you plan Inspired Home Show
Case study · Jack & Pup
Jack & Pup at a pet industry trade show
A full dog-house booth people could understand at a glance and step inside, built to stay busy all show long.
Jack & Pup won its show with a booth people understood at a glance and stepped into; housewares buyers likewise decide fast, so the hero product has to be in their hands.
Read the Jack & Pup case study All case studies →“Purple Exhibits made us look good. The booth was one of the nicest displays in our section of the convention center and generated a lot of positive comments from both customers and industry peers. Their attention to detail, professionalism, and willingness to go above and beyond made a huge difference.”
Kimberly Owens, Brand Manager, Owens Products · more Purple client reviews
Trusted by exhibitors including
04 Designing for housewares, kitchen, tabletop, cleaning, storage and small appliance brands at The Inspired Home Show
Four things we get right for The Inspired Home Show exhibitors
1Let buyers use the product
Editors at the 2026 show touched and tried everything from coffeemakers to shower squeegees. We wire your demo counter for the small electrics you run, add a hidden sink or wipe-clean surface for cooking and cleaning demos, and keep spare stock in a locked base cabinet.
2Build the shelf, not just the booth
Buyers from 23 retail channels are picturing your product on their shelf. We build an endcap or peg-wall mock-up at real retail heights, with price-point signs per channel, so a mass-chain buyer and an independent kitchen store owner each see their own planogram.
3Plan for the new South Hall mix
For 2027 IHA puts Clean + Contain, Dine + Décor and Wired + Well in one South Hall, so your neighbors may sell in a different category. We design graphics that name your category clearly from the aisle and keep the hero product at eye level.
4A room for the chain meeting
Top retail executives at The Inspired Home Show book back-to-back meetings. On a 20×20 or larger island we build a small closed room with a screen and a sample shelf, so the line review happens in private while the open floor keeps demoing.
Concept rendering
Your proposal for The Inspired Home Show includes a rendering like this one
See the The Inspired Home Show booth in 3D first: layout, graphics, lighting and where products sit, revised until it is right and before any panel is cut.
Start my Inspired Home Show conceptFloor at a glance
Where you could be at The Inspired Home Show 2027
For its final Chicago show IHA splits McCormick Place in two: the core consumer categories in the South Hall, global sourcing in the North Hall, and media and new exhibitors on the Grand Concourse between them.
South Hall
Clean + Contain, Dine + Décor and Wired + Well together, with Premium Member Space by the main entrance, the Innovation District, Discovery Park and the Pet Products Pavilion with its Puppy Park.
Our advice Categories now mix in one hall, so your sign has to say what you sell from 50 feet away; we put the category name and hero product up high.
North Hall
The Global Marketplace: International Sourcing exhibitors, select Global Design Point country pavilions, the International Business Center, registration and the café.
Our advice Sourcing buyers here compare factories and price; a clean sample wall and a seated table for spec sheets matter more than theater.
Grand Concourse
Links the two halls and holds the Editorial Studio, which moves the News Center into the lobby, plus the New Exhibitor Showcase and the gia galleries.
Our advice Media pass through the Editorial Studio first; we prepare press-kit samples and booth graphics that photograph cleanly for them.
05 McCormick Place · Chicago
Logistics for The Inspired Home Show 2027, handled
The Inspired Home Show fills the South and North Halls of McCormick Place, linked across the Grand Concourse, where IHA's Editorial Studio and the New Exhibitor Showcase sit. Contractor forms and move-in times arrive in IHA's 2027 Exhibitor Services Kit. At McCormick Place, full-time staff of the exhibiting company can put up any size of exhibit using company tools, while dock-to-booth material handling stays Teamster work billed by weight. We ship crated freight to the advance warehouse, order labor, electrical and plumbing for demo sinks, and our project manager runs the install.
This building's hall rules, drayage estimates and freight deadlines for Inspired Home Show exhibitors are in our McCormick Place exhibitor guide.
What Purple handles
- Demo counters wired for small electrics and cooking
- Retail endcap and peg-wall mock-ups at shelf height
- Exhibitor Services Kit orders and advance-warehouse freight
- Private meeting rooms inside islands
- Hanging signs for South Hall sight lines
- Storage and reuse for Winter Atlanta Market 2028
Your Inspired Home Show timeline, from move-in back
We need your Inspired Home Show design signed off by late December 2026.
- November to mid-December 2026Confirm your space assignment with IHA; send us product dimensions, demo power needs and the categories you show.
- Late December 2026Design sign-off, about 10 weeks before move-in: demo counters, endcap mock-ups, meeting room and hanging sign drawings.
- January to early February 2027Production in Fishkill, NY over 30 to 45 days, with demo counters wired and tested.
- By the kit's deadlines, February 2027Labor, electrical and material handling orders filed from the Exhibitor Services Kit; crates ship to the advance warehouse.
- Move-in days before March 9, 2027Our project manager and vetted local labor build the booth while your team stocks product.
- March 9–11, 2027Show days, then dismantle after the Thursday close and freight to storage or Atlanta for January 2028.
Purple's planning timeline for The Inspired Home Show. We confirm the official move-in, freight target and order deadlines for McCormick Place against your booth when you book; they come from your exhibitor kit and assigned schedule.
Print the Inspired Home Show budget & deadline sheetTravel to The Inspired Home Show 2027
Getting to The Inspired Home Show 2027: airport and hotels
Fly in
Chicago Midway International (MDW) and O'Hare International (ORD)
Stay
onPeak, IHA's only endorsed housing company, with rates at more than 30 hotels and a free daily shuttle
Travel facts from theinspiredhomeshow.com.
The Inspired Home Show by the numbers
The Inspired Home Show year by year
How The Inspired Home Show 2027 compares with other consumer products shows
The consumer products shows closest to The Inspired Home Show on the calendar, with the latest size each organizer has published. Each show name opens our consumer products exhibitor guide for that show.
| Show | Dates | City | Latest published size |
|---|---|---|---|
| Toy Fair New YorkThe Toy Association | February 20–23, 2027 | New York, NY | 720+ exhibitors (2026) |
| iLandscapeLandscape Illinois | February 24–26, 2027 | Schaumburg, IL | ~7,000 attendees (2026) |
| ASI Show Fort WorthASI (Advertising Specialty Institute) | March 1–3, 2027 | Fort Worth, TX | 400+ booths exhibitors (2026) |
| ASD Market WeekEmerald (Emerald X | March 2–4, 2027 | Las Vegas, NV | – |
| Prosper ShowEmerald (Prosper Show) | March 2–3, 2027 | Las Vegas, NV | 130+ vetted Expo Hall exhibitors, 2027 |
| HPBExpoHearth | March 3–6, 2027 | Nashville, TN | – |
| Hardlines Supplier EventRX (Reed Exhibitions) | March 9–10, 2027 | Las Vegas, NV | – |
| The Inspired Home ShowInternational Housewares Association (IHA) | March 9–11, 2027 | Chicago, IL | 1,000+ exhibitors (2026) |
| ShoptalkShoptalk Commerce | March 22–24, 2027 | Las Vegas, NV | 3,500+ leaders attendees · nearly 350 solutions exhibitors (2026) |
| New York Tabletop ShowThe Tabletop Association | April 6–9, 2027 | New York, NY | – |
The Inspired Home Show exhibitor questions
Questions exhibitors ask us before The Inspired Home Show
When is The Inspired Home Show 2027?
The Inspired Home Show 2027 runs Tuesday to Thursday, March 9–11, 2027. Doors open at 8:30 a.m. Central each day and close at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday and Wednesday, with an earlier close on Thursday, the mid-week pattern IHA introduced in 2026 after polling the industry.
Where is The Inspired Home Show 2027 held?
At McCormick Place in Chicago. For 2027 the South Hall holds the Clean + Contain, Dine + Décor and Wired + Well categories, and the North Hall becomes the Global Marketplace for International Sourcing, Global Design Points, registration and the café. The two halls face each other across the Grand Concourse.
Is 2027 the last Inspired Home Show in Chicago?
IHA says March 2027 is its final show in Chicago. Starting in January 2028, IHA and ANDMORE will co-locate The Inspired Home Show with Winter Atlanta Market at AmericasMart Atlanta. We can build a 2027 booth that packs down and goes straight into storage for that first Atlanta edition.
How much does booth space at The Inspired Home Show cost?
IHA charges members $24.50 per square foot for 2027, with no increase over 2026, and non-members $44.00, plus $450 per corner. Premium Member Space beside the South Hall entrance costs $34.50 per square foot for 1,000 to 2,000 square feet. IHA membership runs $1,000 or $2,000 a year depending on sales.
What does a complete booth for The Inspired Home Show cost?
Plan the space first: a 10×20 at the member rate is $4,900, or $8,800 for non-members. Our 10×20 rental typically runs $7,500 to $15,000 and a custom 20×20 island $50,000 to $120,000. Wired demo counters, plumbing for sinks and McCormick Place drayage move the total most.
Does IHA offer booth packages?
IHA sells pipe-and-drape packages for 2027: a 10×10 for $4,500 and a 10×20 for $7,900, or $5,000 and $8,400 with 500 pounds of material handling, and IHA membership is included. Standard space is raw floor only, so every other exhibitor brings its own back wall, carpet and furniture.
How does IHA assign booth space?
IHA uses a priority system that weighs seniority, meaning consecutive years exhibiting, IHA membership and booth size in 2026 and 2025, plus requested size and configuration, premium availability and overall floor plan efficiency. We design to the footprint and exposure IHA assigns, then adjust once the floor plan is final.
Who attends The Inspired Home Show?
Retail buyers and executives from 23 channels, including drug, mass, club, department, grocery, hardware, off-price and e-commerce chains, plus more than 1,000 independent specialty stores in 2026. IHA's registration data shows 92% of verified retailers are buyers or executives with purchase authority, and 57% represent more than $10 million in sales.
Who exhibits at The Inspired Home Show?
More than 1,000 exhibitors in 2026, from legacy housewares brands to start-ups: cookware, kitchen tools and electrics, tabletop, cleaning, storage and organization, home décor, personal care, pet products and candles, plus international sourcing companies and country pavilions in the North Hall.
Can we set up our own booth at McCormick Place?
McCormick Place lets your own full-time staff build an exhibit of any size, tools included, a rule in place since the 2010 MPEA reforms. Moving freight from the dock to the booth is still Teamster work billed by weight, so we crate everything and send it through the advance warehouse.
What does drayage cost at McCormick Place?
The official 2027 rates come with IHA's Exhibitor Services Kit. For McCormick Place we plan about $210 per hundredweight in 2026 and 2027, with a 200-pound minimum and surcharges for late or uncrated freight. Housewares booths carry a lot of product, so we weigh crates and list drayage separately.
How do we launch a new product at The Inspired Home Show?
Enter the New Product Showcase, open to products never seen at the show; entries submitted by the deadline go automatically into the gia Awards. New-to-the-show brands can also join the New Exhibitor Showcase in the Grand Concourse Lobby or Discovery Park, and single-product inventors exhibit in Inventors Corner.
Which hotel company is official for The Inspired Home Show?
onPeak is the only housing company IHA endorses, with negotiated rates at more than 30 Chicago hotels and a free shuttle to McCormick Place. IHA warns exhibitors about outside companies offering rooms, unofficial directory listings such as the FAIR Guide and Expo-Guide.com, and anyone selling its buyer lists.
Can we rent a booth for The Inspired Home Show?
We do. A rental comes with aluminum frames, fabric graphics, LED lighting, a lockable demo counter, shelving for your full line and a monitor, with freight, labor orders, install and dismantle on one proposal. Change the graphics and the same kit works at NY NOW or Atlanta Market.
Before you sign for Inspired Home Show
Five questions to ask any exhibit builder for The Inspired Home Show:
- Is each fee on the proposal, even the ones the show contractor bills?
- Who actually builds it for The Inspired Home Show: your shop or a subcontractor?
- Will your project manager be on the floor at McCormick Place for install and dismantle?
- What exactly is in the rental, and what does The Inspired Home Show bill?
- What happens to the booth after Inspired Home Show, and what does storage cost?
Common situations
Already own a booth? We refresh its graphics, repair what is worn, ship and install it for The Inspired Home Show, and store it between shows. You keep the structure you paid for and bring it to The Inspired Home Show.
Exhibiting from outside the US? We are your team on the ground at McCormick Place: freight to the advance warehouse, show-service orders, installation and storage, with one project manager on your emails in your time zone.
Short on time? A rental with your graphics can be ready for The Inspired Home Show in two to three weeks. We tell you on the first call what is realistic before Inspired Home Show.
Get a proposal
Tell us about your Inspired Home Show booth
What happens next
- Within one business day we write back to ask about your products, your goals for The Inspired Home Show and your footprint.
- Your Inspired Home Show concept rendering and fixed proposal usually arrive within a week. Each Inspired Home Show fee listed upfront and in full, on paper.
- We build in 30–45 days, ship to the advance warehouse and install before the hall opens.