Outdoor Retailer 2027 · August 18–20, 2027 · Minneapolis Convention Center, Minneapolis
Outdoor Retailer 2027 booths in Minneapolis where buyers handle the gear
Specialty retailers lift the pack, zip the jacket and write preseason orders across two exhibit days, so we build category walls and an order table that do both. Freeman is the official show decorator; we book its services and ship crated to the advance warehouse, ahead of its overtime cutoff.
- Aug 18–20 · Minneapolis
- 1,800+ attendees in 2026
- Freeman is show decorator
Every last fee listed upfront, in full, on paper. 3,000+ exhibitors · 10,000+ booths built · 4.9★ client rating · Since 2015
A lakeside campsite set up with folding chairs
01 Purple at Outdoor Retailer 2027
What makes Outdoor Retailer different, and how we build for it
Outdoor Retailer has connected the outdoor industry since 1982, and its 2026 Minneapolis edition rebuilt the floor for discovery: seven themed neighborhoods, Emerging Brands and State Pavilions, keynotes at The Camp on the show floor, and Wild Reach, the creator program that reached a combined audience of 21.2 million outdoor consumers. Education Day opens with the Retailer Playbook Lab, eight hands-on workshops for specialty retailers, and the Hosted Buyer Program sits alongside 400+ verified retail buyers. Two exhibit days means a booth has to show a range, write an order and give a creator something to film, fast.
Hands-on product, clear price tiers and dealer terms, and a place to sit down and write a preseason order without leaving the booth.
A full assortment read by category, sell-through stories and a quiet table for line reviews with your sales lead.
A clean, well-lit corner where product can be handled on camera, plus a person who can tell the story behind the gear.
Your team in Minneapolis
Two shops, one project manager, every hall
We build in our own production shop in Fishkill, NY, and our Las Vegas hub, ship to the Minneapolis Convention Center, and install with our own project manager on the floor and vetted local labor. Predictable 30–45-day turnarounds, secure storage and pre-show QA.
Your team walks into a lit, stocked booth. You just show up.
02 Booths & pricing for Outdoor Retailer 2027
Popular booth sizes at Outdoor Retailer
Outdoor Retailer is a floor of smaller booths: emerging founders in 10×10s and State Pavilion members side by side, with established brands in larger spaces. We recommend a 10×20 with a product wall and a writing table for most brands, or a 20×20 when a tent, bike or kayak has to stand at full size.
A merchandised apparel or pack wall, a try-on mirror or footwear bench and a small order table for retailer meetings.
Shown: XL-Bloom YoungPlants, a Purple inline booth
See 10×20 rental booths →
Frontage for three things at once: a category wall by price tier, a footwear bench with a mirror, and a creator corner with daylight-balanced light and a flat-lay table for Wild Reach content.
Shown: Alltime, a Purple inline booth
See 10×30 rental booths →
A pitched tent, bike or kayak as the centerpiece, category walls on the corners, a creator corner and a hanging sign.
Shown: ACI Workwear, a Purple island exhibit
See 20×20 rental booths →
Full category zones, a lounge for line reviews, storage for restock and a small stage for product talks.
Shown: Amazon, a Purple large-format exhibit
See 20×30 rental booths →In Purple's price
- Design and a 3D rendering, revised until it is right
- Structure, printed graphics, counters and storage as specified
- Lighting and power distribution inside the booth
- Installation and dismantle, with our project manager on the floor
- Every show-service order and deadline tracked for you
Billed by the show and its contractor
- Booth space (paid to the organizer)
- Material handling / drayage, where the space rate does not include it
- Electrical service, internet and rigging
- Booth cleaning and any union labor the venue requires
We estimate every one of these on your 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. Get an exact number for Outdoor Retailer with the booth cost calculator or read the 2026 booth cost guide.
Send the show, your booth size and what the space needs to do. We reply within one business day and send a rendering and a fixed proposal, usually within a week. No charge.
03 Built by Purple
Booths we have designed, built and installed
Case study · Jack & Pup
Jack & Pup at a pet industry trade show
A full dog-house booth that people could instantly understand and step inside, built to stay busy all show long.
Different category, same problem: Jack & Pup's walk-in dog house told buyers what the brand made at a glance, the job a pitched tent does at Outdoor Retailer.
Read the Jack & Pup case study All case studies →“Itzy and his team are the real deal. If you want to wow your potential customers at your next trade show, this is the team for you. They create the best custom and portable trade show exhibits by far.”
Sherri McManus, Corporate Training, The Lou Everett Group · more client reviews
Trusted by exhibitors including
04 Designing for outdoor gear, apparel and footwear brands at Outdoor Retailer
Four things we get right for Outdoor Retailer exhibitors
1Merchandise like a specialty store
Retail buyers judge your line the way their customers will see it. We build walls by category and price tier, with pegboard, slatwall and shelving that let you reset a range overnight, and we leave a gap where a tent, bike or kayak can stand at full size.
2Give products a place to be handled
Packs get lifted, jackets get zipped and boots get laced. We plan a bench, a mirror and a soft rug zone, keep fragile demo samples tethered, and store backup sizes inside the furniture so a buyer never waits for the one sample in the case.
Build a corner for creators
Wild Reach brings creators onto the floor with phones and ring lights. A wall with even daylight-balanced light, a clean backdrop with your logo at shoulder height and a table for flat lays turn a visit into content your brand can share.
Plan a table for orders
With only two exhibit days, much of the business is preseason ordering. We put a writing table with power and a tablet stand away from the aisle, so your rep can open the line sheet while the next retailer browses the wall.
Concept rendering
Every proposal comes with a rendering like this
You see the booth in 3D before we cut a single panel: layout, graphics, lighting and product positions, revised until it is right. Shown: a Purple concept for Pentawe Sdn Bhd.
Start my Outdoor Retailer concept05 Minneapolis Convention Center · Minneapolis
Logistics for Outdoor Retailer 2027, handled
The Minneapolis Convention Center sits at 1301 2nd Avenue S on the south edge of downtown. Freeman is the official show decorator, so material handling, furnishings and electrical go through Freeman orders, and move-in times arrive with the Exhibitor Service Manual. Private-vehicle unloads are allowed but limited to 30 minutes, hand-carry only with no flat trucks or pallet jacks, and every exhibitor files a certificate of insurance by the deadline. Outdoor Retailer lists Phoenix Logistics for international freight. We read the manual, file the forms, book your Freeman services, ship crated to the advance warehouse and install with our own project manager and vetted local labor before your team lands.
Hall guide
Outdoor Retailer organizes its Minneapolis floor into themed areas rather than one long grid. Here is how the areas the show used in 2026 shape where your booth sits and who walks past it.
The 2026 floor was split into seven neighborhoods built for discovery, so buyers browse by category rather than by brand size.
Our advice: Your neighbors are your category. We design the range wall to stand out from the brands beside you, not just to fill the space.
Dedicated areas for new founders and for brands grouped by home state, listed on the organizer's exhibit menu, where emerging companies sit side by side.
Our advice: In a row of 10×10s, one hero product at eye level and a stool-height order counter make a small booth read first.
At the 2026 edition the keynotes ran at The Camp, a stage set on the show floor itself rather than in a separate room.
Our advice: Booths near the stage catch crowds as sessions end, so we keep product within reach of the aisle edge.
What Purple handles
- Exhibitor Service Manual, Freeman orders and insurance paperwork
- Retail-grade product walls, shelving and lighting
- Graphics printed in house and proofed against your products
- Freight to the advance warehouse and return shipping
- Installation and dismantle with a Purple project manager on site
Timeline, counted back from move-in
We need design sign-off by early June 2027.
- Early June 2027Design sign-off; booth drawings and product list locked.
- June to July 2027Production in Fishkill, NY or Las Vegas, NV; graphics proofed against your product colors.
- About three weeks before move-inBooth, product and display fixtures ship to the Freeman advance warehouse.
- Move-in days before the August 19 openingOur project manager and vetted local labor install, light the product walls and run the pre-show checklist.
- August 18–20, 2027Education Day and two exhibit days; your Purple project manager stays on the floor throughout.
- After close on August 20Dismantle, samples packed to your return plan, booth to storage or the next show.
Purple planning timeline. Official move-in, freight target and order deadlines come from your exhibitor kit and assigned schedule; we confirm them against your booth when you book.
Printable budget & deadline sheetOutdoor Retailer exhibitor questions
Questions exhibitors ask us before Outdoor Retailer
How much does a booth at Outdoor Retailer 2027 cost?
Emerging founders can start with a 10×20 rental from $7,500 to $15,000; a custom 20×20 island runs $50,000 to $120,000. At Outdoor Retailer the size of your hero product, a pitched tent or a bike, and the depth of the range wall move the number. Emerald bills booth space and Freeman bills show services.
What is the deadline to order a booth for Outdoor Retailer?
Emerald publishes the advance-warehouse and insurance-certificate deadlines in the Exhibitor Service Manual, and freight that reaches the warehouse after its date pays overtime charges. We file to those dates for you. For the booth itself, we need design sign-off in early June 2027 to build in 30 to 45 days and ship ahead of the warehouse cutoff.
Can we rent a booth for Outdoor Retailer, and what does a rental include?
Yes. A rental covers the frame, printed graphics, lighting, slatwall or pegboard for your range, a counter or writing table, freight, installation and dismantle. An emerging brand on its first Outdoor Retailer can start with a 10×20 rental and add custom product walls at the next show.
Can we set up our own booth at the Minneapolis Convention Center?
You can hand-carry from a private vehicle: unloading is limited to 30 minutes, one person stays with the vehicle, and flat trucks, pallet jacks and other equipment are not allowed. Anything crated goes through Freeman. No one under 16 is allowed on the floor during move-in and move-out, so plan your team accordingly.
What does drayage cost at Outdoor Retailer, and who pays it?
Freeman, the official show decorator, bills material handling per hundredweight under the rates in the Exhibitor Service Manual, and the charge goes on your account. Shipments that miss the advance-warehouse deadline add overtime, so we time the freight, consolidate crates and put the drayage estimate on your proposal before you sign.
Can we reuse our Outdoor Retailer booth at other shows?
Yes. We build range walls and counters to reconfigure, so the same booth can travel to ICAST in Orlando, NY NOW in New York or SuperZoo in Las Vegas. Between shows we store it, reprint graphics for each new season and ship it to the next advance warehouse.
We already own a booth. Can you refresh it for Minneapolis?
We inspect your existing exhibit, repair what is worn, reprint graphics for the new season, add a creator corner or order table if it needs one, then ship it to the Freeman advance warehouse and install it with our own project manager. After the show we store it until the next one.
We are exhibiting from outside the US. Can you help?
Outdoor Retailer lists Phoenix Logistics for international freight, and we handle the US side: design or rental, freight from the advance warehouse, Freeman orders, installation, dismantle and storage. Your team flies in to a finished, lit booth; customs brokerage stays with your forwarder.
Before you sign with anyone
Five questions to ask any exhibit builder for Outdoor Retailer:
- Is every fee on the proposal, including what the show contractor bills?
- Who builds the booth: your own shop or a subcontractor?
- Will your project manager be on the floor for install and dismantle?
- What exactly is in the rental, and what is billed by the show?
- Where does the booth go after the show, and what does storage cost?
Common situations
Already own a booth? We refresh the graphics, repair what is worn, ship it, install it and store it between shows. You keep the structure you paid for.
Exhibiting from outside the US? We are your team on the ground: freight to the advance warehouse, show-service orders, installation and storage, with one project manager answering your emails in your time zone.
Short on time? A rental with your graphics can be ready in two to three weeks. We tell you on the first call what is realistic for your date.
Get a proposal
Tell us about your Outdoor Retailer booth
What happens next
- We reply within one business day with questions about your products, goals and footprint.
- You get a concept rendering and a fixed proposal, usually within a week. Every last fee listed upfront, in full, on paper.
- We build in 30–45 days, ship to the advance warehouse and install before the hall opens.