An annual trade show that brings close to 60,000 visitors to McCormick Place each year has canceled its plans to meet in Chicago this month, citing concerns about the spread of the coronavirus.
The International Housewares Association has nixed its four-day show, which was scheduled for March 14-17. Convention industry insiders are now bracing to see if other shows follow the Housewares group’s lead. Nine events are scheduled to be held at McCormick Place over the next 90 days – and if they’re canceled, they’ll potentially cost more than $460 million in economic impact to the city.
The virus outbreak is also having an effect on the hotel industry – including Chicago’s own Hyatt Hotels. The global hospitality giant warned Wall Street that new corporate travel restrictions in North America and Europe will undercut financial results and make it difficult to forecast earnings for the rest of the year.
In other Chicago-area business news:
The co-founder of one of the city’s largest cannabis businesses has resigned from the company.
Joe Caltabiano is stepping away from Cresco Labs, leaving it in charge of Charlie Bachtell. Caltabiano, who is one of the three largest shareholders in the company, tells Crain’s he intends to remain on the company’s board of directors.
Cresco Labs has 1,800 employees and operates in a dozen states and has quickly risen to become one of the industry’s major players.
And finally, the maker of Hefty trash bags is making a seemingly unlikely sustainability pitch with a new ad campaign that highlights an initiative that aims to help people in select cities recycle hard-to-recycle plastics like snack bags, cutlery and toothpaste tubes.
The ad campaign for the Lake Forest-based consumer products maker claims it’s responsible for converting 300 tons of hard-to-recycle plastics through the program, or roughly the weight of five jet airliners.
Crain’s Headlines is a joint production between WTTW and Crain’s Chicago Business. It airs every Monday through Thursday on the WTTW News program “Chicago Tonight.”
