February 9

HDS Retail North America held its annual vendor shows on January 23-24, in New York and on February 4-6, 2007 in Toronto. Both events combined for close to 200 attendees consisting of HDS Retail category managers, field supervisors and managers as well as many representatives of the 76 different suppliers to the company from the United States and Canada.

The vendor events are held each year to allow store personnel to become familiar with the gifts and souvenirs merchandise programs developed by the category managers for the coming year, and leverage their knowledge of local subtleties to support the placement of orders in quantities that are adapted to their store's volumes, storage capacity, etc.

The events are also an opportunity for the vendors and HDS Retail employees to socialize with individuals they predominantly work with by phone, fax and e-mail during the rest of the year.