By Piritta Törrö
The International Home + Housewares Show and International Housewares Association (IHA), the global sponsors and organizers of the gia (Global Innovation Award) program, today announced the national gia winners of 2012-2013 – including 23 innovative and unique home and housewares retailers from 22 countries around the globe.
Also announced was a very special honorary gia award, to be presented to India’s TRRAIN (Trust for Retailers and Retail Associates of India) at the 2013 International Home + Housewares Show. TRRAIN is an organization that works toward improving the lives of people in retail through various initiatives. The International Housewares Association (IHA) and gia are honoring TRRAIN with the award for their vision of empowering people in Indian retail.
The IHA and International Home + Housewares Show created the gia program in 1999 to foster innovation and excellence in home and housewares retailing throughout the world. The competition is structured on a two-tier level, national and global, to honor independent and multiple location home and housewares retailers for excellence in several business categories:
- Overall mission statement, vision and strategy
- Store design and layout
- Visual merchandising, displays and window displays
- Marketing, advertising and promotions
- Customer service and staff training
- Innovation
Each national gia winner is invited to the International Home + Housewares Show in Chicago where the global gia jury, consisting of four experts representing Asia, Europe and the Americas, plus a rotating group of co-sponsoring trade publication editors from around the world, will select up to five gia Global Honorees and the winner of the Martin M. Pegler Award for Excellence in Visual Merchandising.
The 2012-2013 national gia winners are:
Country Company Url
Argentina Plata Lappas www.platalappas.com
Australia Matchbox www.matchbox.com.au
Brazil Coqueluche www.coqueluche.com.br
Canada Linen Chest www.linenchest.com
China Derucci www.derucci.com
Colombia Muebles BL www.mueblesbl.com
Denmark Bahne www.bahne.dk
France Fleux www.fleux.com
Germany Claudia Scheck, Küche und Genuss www.claudia-scheck.de
India HomeTown www.hometown.in
Italy Quality Living www.qualitylivingverona.it
Japan Sempre www.sempredesign.co.jp
Netherlands Kookpunt www.kookpunt.nl
New Zealand Taylor Road Homewares www.taylorroad.co.nz
Poland Witek’s www.witeks.pl
Russia Polnaya Chasha www.yarka.ru
Singapore ToTT Store www.tottstore.com
Switzerland Zemp AG www.zemp-wolhusen.ch
Turkey KORKMAZ www.korkmaz.com.tr
UK Dinghams www.dinghams.co.uk
Uruguay La Maison de Famille www.maisondefamillesurmer.com
USA Cooks of Crocus Hill www.cooksofcrocushill.com
USA Cooking.com www.cooking.com
During the 2013 International Home + Housewares Show in March, the winners are honored at a festive awards dinner, where the 2012-2013 gia Global Honorees and the winner of the Martin M. Pegler Award for Excellence in Visual Merchandising will be announced. Other gia highlights at the International Home + Housewares Show include a gia showcase in the Hall of Global Innovation, in Lakeside Center Lobby, where visuals of the national gia winners’ award-winning store design and branding ideas, examples of exquisite visual merchandising and innovative displays are on display. Banners for the honored retailers can be seen in the walkway that connects the Grand Concourse and the Lakeside Center.
gia is more than an awards program. Representing retailing excellence around the world, it is part of a larger education initiative that includes seminars by retail experts, columns in international housewares publications and educational sessions at events in sponsors’ home countries. Part of gia’s educational offering, on March 4, gia Expert Juror Martin M. Pegler will conduct a special session in the Innovation Theater of the 2013 International Home + Housewares Show, with topic All You Wanted to Know About Visual Merchandising But Were Afraid It Would Cost Too Much.
For more information about the gia (Global Innovation Award) program, the co-sponsors, or participating in 2013-2014, contact Piritta Törrö at piritta.torro@inspiredconnection.fi. Additional information on the gia program is also available online at http://www.housewares.org/show/gia-retail.
