EuroShop is a trade fair for retail capital goods, held at the Messe Düsseldorf exhibition grounds in Düsseldorf, Germany. It has been held since 1966, every two years until 1972 and every three years since 1975. Messe Düsseldorf organises the fair in cooperation with the EHI Retail Institute. Admission is restricted to trade visitors.
History The fair was founded in response to changes in European retailing during the 1960s, when self-service formats and the first discount stores increased demand for shopfitting and merchandise presentation. Messe Düsseldorf and the EHI Retail Institute, then named Institut für Selbstbedienung, agreed to establish it in 1965. The first edition ran from 11 to 15 June 1966 at the former exhibition grounds at the Ehrenhof.
Shopfitting, window dressing and shelving dominated the early editions; display advertising, lighting and stand construction followed up to the 1990s. As information technology gained ground, Messe Düsseldorf added a separate event between EuroShop editions, the "Technology Forum 97", first held in October 1997. It was renamed "Retail Technology" in 2000 and, when EuroShop was restructured in 2002, took the name EuroCIS from the fair's technology segment. In EuroShop years EuroCIS forms one of the fair's sections; in other years it is staged separately.
The 2002 restructuring divided EuroShop into four areas: EuroConcept, EuroSales, EuroExpo and EuroCIS. This arrangement lasted until 2014. For the 2017 edition the organiser replaced it with seven areas it called "experience dimensions"; their number, scope and names have changed several times since.
Format At the 2026 edition the exhibits were grouped into seven dimensions: shopfitting and store design, lighting, refrigeration and energy management, expo and event marketing, retail technology, retail marketing, and food service equipment. The emphasis has shifted over time from shopfitting towards technology and energy. Visitors come mainly from retailing and wholesaling, architecture, store planning, design and marketing.
Awards presented at the fair include the reta awards (retail technology awards europe), the EuroShop RetailDesign Award, the EXHIBITOR Mag EuroShop Award and a science award.
Editions outside Germany Messe Düsseldorf has run related events abroad since the 2010s. C-star in Shanghai was the first, later trading as China In-store; the company also organises In-store Asia in Mumbai. A first EuroShop Middle East is scheduled for 25–27 October 2027 in Dubai, postponed from October 2026.
Facts and figures The 2026 edition ran from 22 to 26 February across 14 halls, with 1,840 exhibitors from 61 countries and more than 81,000 trade visitors from 141 countries. AUMA, the German trade fair industry association, records 80,146 visitors and 102,856 m2 of net exhibition space. The next edition is scheduled for 18–22 February 2029.
Year Exhibitors Visitors Exhibition space in m2 1966 331 28,762 19,614 1968 387 28,419 25,249 1970 454 40,582 33,164 1972 478 41,393 39,198 1975 522 40,710 37,867 1978 560 45,514 40,701 1981 597 45,742 41,966 1984 760 61,202 43,896 1987 943 80,541 60,888 1990 1,120 100,640 79,842 1993 1,473 91,436 95,430 1996 1,508 100,967 90,856 1999 1,587 92,377 96,524 2002 1,595 92,532 98,907 2005 1,652 90,963 94,843 2008 1,895 104,766 106,871 2011 2,036 107,273 107,971 2014 2,229 109,496 116,579 2017 2,369 113,906 127,592 2020 2,292 94,339 123,799 2023 1,824 81,484 102,927 2026 1,840 80,146 102,856
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