NEWS
NY Now Acquired by RMG Following Deal With Emerald
Dorothy Belshaw (left), Karen Olson (center), and William Lacey (right)NY NOW—the wholesale gift, home, lifestyle and accessories event—is now under new ownership after the show’s acquisition by Rockview Management Group from Emerald Holding, Inc. The recently created RMG was founded by a group of industry veterans comprising Dorothy Belshaw, William Lacey and Karen Olson.
“There are so many buyers and vendors that are hopeful we can get this done,” said Belshaw, who serves as CEO of RMG. “They miss the market. They miss that Northeastern business. They’re not picking it up anywhere else.”
Belshaw previously managed the NY NOW show, which was formerly known as the New York International Gift Fair, for eight years when it was part of the George Little Management portfolio.
“This is a very relationship-driven industry, so any supplier in the industry has to really understand and be connected with customers to be truly successful,” said Belshaw. “It’s a big industry of small companies and many that are owner operated. The personal connection is important to them.”
The new owners will begin remaking the show in August with aesthetic and service-level changes, according to Belshaw. Changes to refresh the show will be based on research from RMG’s most-valuable resource.
“The first thing we’re going to do is survey buyers who are coming to the show to really find out what’s working and what’s not,” Belshaw said. “Also, speaking to buyers who have stopped coming and inquire as to why they stopped and how they’re sourcing.”
The next edition of the biannual show will take place Aug. 2–4 at New York City’s Javits Center followed by a winter market in February. Belshaw noted that this first 2027 show will boast a major transformation.
“We believe that a lot of the buyers from the Northeast are not going to market at all, so we have to dig into that with them,” Belshaw explained. “With that feedback, I’ve been talking to a lot of customers in the last two weeks on the vendor side. We’re going to sit down and put our strategy together for 2027.”
