Installation and logistics
Storing a stand between two fairs
Ömer Faruk Süer · Senior Sales Manager · 3 min read · Last updated:
Short answer
How is a stand stored between two fairs?
Storage starts with the stand type. Modular and system parts are boxed and racked and take little volume. Bespoke timber walls suffer from damp and knocks, so they are only worth keeping in controlled conditions. Everything that goes into store is labelled and entered on an inventory. Graphics are usually not kept: the message changes at the next fair, and reprinting costs less than storing.
What goes into store
Three questions decide it. Can the part be used at the same size next time. Is storing it cheaper than remaking it. Will it survive transport and storage undamaged. If you cannot answer yes to all three, it should not go into store.
The fourth dimension is timing. If the next fair is six months away, keeping the parts is plainly sensible; at two years the sum changes, because storage accrues while the usefulness of the part declines. Storage decisions taken without a fair in the calendar usually create cost for nothing.
Aluminium profile, connectors, LED fittings, showcase glass frames and furniture pass all three. A timber wall cut to a specific size usually fails the first: if the next stand is a different size, the wall is going to be recut anyway and its months on the shelf bought nothing.
Flooring and carpet are not stored. Carpet is worn by the end of a show and cleaning it costs more than replacing it. Which parts suit a second life, by stand type, is compared on the stand types page.
Labels and inventory
An unlabelled store is a full room that helps nobody. Every crate carries four facts: which project it belongs to, which section of the stand, how many parts are inside, and the date it last left. The label goes on two faces, because the racking never ends up the same way twice.
Photographs are part of the inventory as well. Each crate is photographed before the lid goes on, and the image is attached to its inventory line. Six months later, the question "what was in this case" gets answered without driving to the store and opening it. A small habit that saves hours at quotation stage.
The inventory lives in one table and every movement is entered. Parts leaving for a fair are booked out, returning parts booked in. Where a missing part was last seen goes on the same line; that is the only way anything gets traced.
The second benefit shows up at quotation stage. When you know what is on the shelf, the next stand is priced as a difference rather than from scratch. The exhibitor should see that table too, since the contents are their property and the sum insured comes off the same list.
Maintenance between shows
Parts go into store clean. Tape residue, double-sided adhesive and dust become unremovable after a year on a shelf. Touch-up on painted surfaces is done on return as well; done on the way out, drying time causes problems.
The second job on the way into store is replacing what went missing. Screws lost at the show, a broken hinge, a finished roll of tape are all made good straight away, so the crate that leaves for the next fair is complete. Finding the gap on the day of departure is incomparably cheaper than finding it on build morning.
Electrical items are stored separately and tested first. Discovering a dead fitting on site at the next fair costs far more than reading the store report. The same goes for moving parts such as hinges, catches and castors.
Storage has a natural limit. A system left for three years often goes unused even in sound condition, because the brand identity and the product range have moved on. The decision only makes sense when the next fair is already in the calendar.
How is a storage charge calculated?
By volume and duration. That is why selecting what to keep works out cheaper than keeping everything.
Should the stand be stored abroad?
Yes if the next show is in the same country, since it saves a freight leg. With an uncertain calendar, keeping it in Turkey stays more flexible.