After two years of being apart, the NACS Show took place live and in person last month. Our industry is stronger when we are able to share, collaborate and work through our challenges together, and the number of attendees who convened in Chicago in October knew that there’s no better place to do that than at the NACS Show.
To say that our industry is resilient would be an understatement. Millions of customers rely on our industry every day, and we continue to operate and serve communities across the globe through difficult times. The essential nature of our industry has never been more apparent.
NACS has always been there for our industry—and for you.
After the tragic days of September 11, 2001, the NACS Show was the first major tradeshow held in Las Vegas. After Hurricane Katrina in 2005, NACS relocated the Show from New Orleans to Las Vegas in 10 short weeks because our members knew that the Show must go on, and we knew we were needed to serve the industry.
And this year, the NACS Show continued to serve our industry.
NACS Show exhibitors reached 1,235 across a net 400,000 square feet of expo space. A RECORD number of new exhibitors participated in this year’s NACS Show—388—beating our record from 2009. Clearly, innovation and new ideas were not paused in 2021.
Lots of newer exhibitors meant more new products—especially in our Cool New Products Room, one of the favorite NACS Show spots for retailers. A total of 277 new products were on display this year.
New innovations and future trends were explored in more than 40 education sessions and four general sessions.
The NACS team worked closely with the city of Chicago, the convention center and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control to ensure that we provided the safest environment for us
to gather. The continued support of our industry, our customers and our communities has helped move the convenience and fuel retailing industry forward so we can all continue to thrive for years to come. As an industry we are resilient, and we will get through this together.
We got this!