January 10–12, 2027 — New York, NY
NRF 2027 Exhibit Design Retail Buyers Decide in Three Seconds
NRF: Retail's Big Show fills the Javits Center with hundreds of retail technology vendors saying similar things. The exhibits that work are the ones an attendee can understand while still walking.
Expo-At handles exhibit strategy, 3D design, production, shipping, installation, on-site service and dismantle for NRF exhibitors.
Official show site
- Dates
- January 10–12, 2027
- City
- New York, NY
- Industry
- Retail technology
Built and Managed for NRF
One team from first sketch through show-floor handoff
Strategy & 3D design
A show-specific layout built around your product, audience, footprint and sales process.
Production & graphics
Custom structures, rental systems, finishes, lighting and graphics managed as one build.
Freight & on-site execution
Shipping, labour coordination, installation, show support and dismantle at Jacob K. Javits Convention Center.
Who you are actually talking to
NRF attendees are retail operators and technology decision makers — store operations, ecommerce, supply chain, IT and the executives above them. They arrive with a list of vendors to see and a limited number of hours to see them.
Most of your traffic will be people who had not planned to visit you. They will give you one glance from the aisle. Everything else follows from whether that glance told them what you do.
On the Floor
What works on the NRF floor
Plain-language headline
Not a tagline. A sentence a store operations director recognises as their own problem, set at eye level and readable from the far side of the aisle.
Open, not walled
Counters across the front stop conversations. An open corner and clear floor invites people to step in without committing.
One screen doing one thing
A single looping view of the product in a real store beats a carousel of marketing slides nobody finishes.
Deliberate brightness
Javits floors are dense. Backlit graphics and clean white structures pull attention in a way that printed vinyl does not.
Footprint Guidance
What size makes sense at NRF
10x10
The NRF default
Backlit claim wall, one demo screen, a slim counter to the side and open floor. This is the footprint most first-time NRF exhibitors should choose, and it can absolutely hold its own.
10x20
Two conversations at once
Two demo positions along the aisle with a storage and coat area designed in, so staff are never tidying in front of a prospect.
20x20 island
Category presence
Four open approaches, overhead identification where permitted, and a meeting position for enterprise conversations.
Javits move-in is a Manhattan problem
NRF runs in mid-January in New York, with shared docks, enforced move-in windows and congested street access. Compact, well-crated exhibits that reassemble quickly are worth real money here.
Union labour rules govern what your own staff may do on the floor, and they vary by show edition. We read the current exhibitor kit, tell you what applies and order labour where required.
- —Write the headline before the design — it determines the layout
- —Choose framed, lightweight systems for easy Manhattan freight
- —Confirm this year's labour and contractor rules in the show kit
- —Book dock windows and install labour early
- —Bring spare graphics files for local reprint
The Venue
Jacob K. Javits Convention Center
A vertical building on the far west side of Manhattan, with a busy loading operation and floors full of small, well-branded footprints. Clarity beats size here.
We can manage design, production, freight, installation, on-site support and dismantle for your NRF exhibit in this facility.
See how we work at Javits Center
Exhibiting at NRF? Let's design it now, not in December.
NRF 2027 booth builder · Javits Center exhibit design · retail trade show booth company