| Next edition | 25–26 May 2027 · Business Design Centre |
|---|---|
| Starting price | £3,950+ |
| Venue | Business Design Centre |
| Next edition | 25–26 May 2027 |
| Sector | Greeting cards |
| Duration | 2 days |
| Quote turnaround | 48hr |
PG Live Stand Builders: BDC Logistics, the Card Buyer, and What Wins Orders
PG Live (Progressive Greetings Live) is the world's only trade exhibition dedicated to the greeting card industry, held each year at the Business Design Centre in London's Islington. A focused, compact two-day show, it brings hundreds of card publishers, designers and artists together with retail buyers and distributors from over forty countries, all making their buying selections for the year ahead.
This is a design-led ordering show, so the brief is show the designs plus take the order: present your ranges so a buyer can take in dozens of designs quickly, make them easy to browse, and give your team space to write the order. Cards are a visual, impulse-led category, so a stand that displays the artwork beautifully and reads instantly is what turns a busy aisle into placed orders.
Because the show is famous for its friendly, design-celebrating atmosphere, a warm, well-presented stand that shows the range at its best fits the room and wins buyers.
For a card publisher that means a stand that shows the artwork brilliantly and makes ordering easy: legible display, a clear brand, and a spot to write business. The publishers who leave with orders design the display and the order together.
Building at Business Design Centre: the rules that shape your stand
The Business Design Centre is a Grade II listed Victorian hall in Islington built around a glazed central atrium with mezzanine galleries, so it is a very different build environment from a modern box hall. Working heights are lower, the listed fabric limits what you can fix to, and floor loadings on the upper galleries are capped — all of which shapes the design from the first sketch.
Because you generally cannot rig from or fix to the listed structure, stands here are freestanding and self-supporting, with lighting and signage carried on the stand itself rather than hung from the building. Complex or raised elements need drawings and method statements approved by the venue ahead of the show; we prepare these in-house so approval doesn't delay your build.
Central-London logistics are the other constraint: loading is through fixed access points with limited on-site space, so we crate to size, finish and inspect off-site, and time deliveries to the venue's access windows. In-hall work is kept to clean assembly, using water-based paint and fire-retardant materials to the venue standard.
What a winning PG Live stand needs
Cards sell on their look, so the stand is really a gallery for your designs: we create clear, well-lit display walls and racking that show ranges legibly and let a buyer scan dozens of designs fast, with strong brand signage and a spot to sit and write the order. Discreet storage keeps stock and packaging out of sight, so the shop front stays all about the artwork.
We design the display the way a card buyer shops — by range and theme, easy to compare — because a buyer choosing next year's selections wants to assess your collection quickly and clearly, and good display does more to win the order than any pitch.
We also plan restocking and tidiness across the two days, because a card display that gaps out or looks picked-over late on sells far less than the full, fresh wall a buyer saw at opening.
Designing for card buyers and distributors
Buyers walk a compact, busy floor with a buying brief, so the stand has to make your ranges and your brand clear at a glance, then make ordering easy. We give your standout ranges and any new collections prominence, design an inviting, browsable display, and keep a calm spot to talk terms — because at a focused show like PG Live the order conversation follows quickly once the designs land.
New and emerging designs are a big draw here, so we make sure your latest ranges get the prominence buyers are scanning for, rather than burying them in the back of the stand.
We also design the stand to feel warm and inviting, in keeping with PG Live's famously friendly atmosphere, because a welcoming stand gets more buyers stopping than a cold, corporate one at this show.
We also make sure your brand and the feel of your ranges come through, because card buyers back publishers whose style fits their shops, and a stand that captures your character helps them picture your cards on their shelves.
What a PG Live stand costs
A turnkey stand typically runs roughly £3,950–£12,500 for a compact custom build — well suited to PG Live's focused format and many smaller publishers — £12,500–£28,000 for a larger build with extensive display and order space, and more for a flagship. The quote is turnkey — design, build, graphics, lighting, delivery to the venue, install, dismantle and the paperwork are all included — and the amount of display and bespoke joinery usually moves the number.
Because the value is in the orders and stockists won, the spend that pays back is in beautiful, legible display of your designs and room to write business — a compact stand that shows the artwork brilliantly beats a large, cluttered one.
And because the format is compact, even a modest budget buys a stand that shows your full range well — the spend goes on display quality, which is exactly what a card buyer notices.
Stand sizes and layouts
Stands run from compact spaces for individual designers and new publishers up to larger builds for established card brands. The layout maximises legible display — walls, racking and shelving sized to your ranges — with an easy browsing flow and a spot to write orders. On a compact, design-led floor, clear sightlines and good lighting matter more than sheer size.
Whatever the size, we make the artwork the hero under good light, because at a card show the designs do the selling, and a stand that presents them beautifully punches above its footprint.
On a compact floor, neat, legible racking that holds a lot of designs without looking cluttered is the real skill, so we size and arrange the display to your range rather than cramming it in.
A fast, polished build for a two-day show
PG Live is a compact, two-day show, so a fast, clean install matters: we finish and inspect your stand off-site and crate it to arrive ready to assemble rather than fabricate in the hall — so your team spends build-up styling the display, not waiting on a half-built stand.
Lighting does a lot of the work in the BDC's galleried, daylit halls: we light your display walls so the artwork reads richly rather than flat, because at a card show the designs only sell themselves if a buyer can see them properly.
Because the show is just two days, we also pre-plan the dismantle, so your artwork and stock come down quickly and safely at the close rather than in a scramble.
Reusing your stand between editions
Card publishers exhibit at PG Live year after year, and often at gift and trade shows too, so a modular, reusable stand is excellent value. We store the core, refresh the display and graphics for each year's ranges, and keep your layout and venue paperwork on file — so you arrive with a current, well-presented stand rather than a rebuild, and can swap in new collections each May.
Next step for your PG Live stand
Send us your space size, hall position and goals for PG Live. You'll get a custom 3D concept and a fixed, all-inclusive quote within 48 hours — designed to the BDC's rules, with structural sign-off built into the timeline if your design needs it. We build in-house and install at Business Design Centre, so the stand you approve in the rendering is the stand that opens.
We also design and build exhibition stands for other major UK shows — see the full show calendar for retail, gift & home and beyond, all with the same in-house team, fixed all-in pricing and full venue paperwork.