By The Lipari Team
A booth built around global flavor, unique data capabilities, and conversations that didn’t end when the show did.
Every February, the most committed independent grocers in the country converge at Las Vegas for the NGA Show. It’s the premier gathering of its kind: three days of peer-led education, supplier discovery, and the kind of straight-talking conversations you can only have with people who actually live the business.
Lipari has had a presence at NGA for years. This year was different.
A Booth Built Around a Direction
Walk up to the Lipari booth at NGA 2026 and you wouldn’t find the usual spread. What you found instead was a fully international set: Middle Eastern, Hispanic, Indian, and Asian. A focused, deliberate statement about where Lipari is going and who they’re going there with.
The new branding landed well. The colors, the packaging, the overall identity refresh that’s been in the works for Lipari’s owned and exclusive brands. Retailers noticed. Comments on the direction of the company were consistently positive throughout the two-day show floor.
But what really got people talking had nothing to do with packaging.
Knowing Who’s Actually in the Store
One of the most consistent challenges independent retailers face is understanding their shopper base well enough to stock for it. You can make educated guesses based on zip codes. You can look at regional census data. But directional isn’t the same as actionable.
Lipari showed up to NGA with something sharper. A capability that breaks down demographic data to the block level, within a defined radius of any given store. Not zip codes. Blocks. Which ethnicities are concentrated where. What the population growth trajectory looks like over the next five years. And critically, not just broad categories like “Hispanic” but country-of-origin breakdowns, because what a shopper from Mexico reaches for is different from what a shopper from Venezuela reaches for, and a planogram should reflect that.
The response from retailers was immediate. This is the kind of insight that historically required a major chain’s research budget. Lipari is bringing it to independent operators, then using it to build sets, shape assortments, and guide marketing targeting so retailers know exactly where to focus, and why.
Several retailers at the show left with follow-up conversations already scheduled.
Showing Up for the Industry
Lipari’s presence at NGA has never been about running a commercial for Lipari. This year, the team presented on product attributes that drive purchases among Gen Z and Millennial shoppers. What has changed. What hasn’t. And where the real opportunity sits. That’s how Lipari operates as a partner: bringing expertise to the table, not just a catalog.
The team also used the show as an opportunity to meet potential solution partners whose work could benefit Lipari customers down the road, from customer loyalty platforms to retail financial management systems. Services Lipari won’t build themselves, but believe their customers deserve access to.
What It All Adds Up To
At NGA 2026, Lipari showed retailers something they haven’t seen from a specialty distributor before: a fully committed international assortment backed by the data to know exactly how to set it for the people walking through the door.
That combination, product expertise plus shopper intelligence, is what it means to be a real partner in today’s grocery market.
The shelf is changing. Lipari is here to help you change with it.
