Nominations Due April 30 for Retailer Excellence Awards
Nominations for the NYIGF-sponsored Retailer Excellence Awards (REAs) are being accepted through Friday, April 30, with 2012 Award winners scheduled to be announced in New York City, on Sunday, August 19, 6:30 -10:00PM, at The Lighthouse at Chelsea Piers. Applications and nomination forms are available online atwww.nyigf.com/TheShow/AwardsPromotionsDisplays.aspx#REA.
Presented by Gifts & Decorative Accessories magazine, and sponsored by the New York International Gift Fair® (NYIGF®), the REAs recognize excellence in four retail categories including Gift Store Design/Redesign; Marketing Achievement; Visual Merchandising/Display; and Store Events, as well as for individual achievement (Rep of the Year and Industry Rising Star). As part of this very special evening, Gift For Life, the gift and home industry’s only charitable organization, also bestows its prestigious annual “Industry Achievement” Award.
Launched in 1951, the Retailer Excellence Awards today are the gift and home industry’s oldest and most prestigious awards. “This is a special evening where we recognize innovative retailers and industry individuals for their hard work and great ideas,” said Dorothy Belshaw, NYIGF director and GLM senior vice president. “NYIGF is proud to sponsor the Awards and to recognize innovation and inspiration from within our industry.”
Retailers who won awards in 2011 are: Sixth Floor Museum at Dealy Plaza, Museum Store + Café, Dallas, TX (Gift Store Design/Redesign); Absolutely Fabulous, Huntington Beach, CA; (Visual Merchandising/Display); Wonder Works, Charleston, SC (Marketing Achievement); and MAZE Home, Winnetka, IL (Store Events). Rep of the Year honors went to Nancy Messina, Gund, div. of Enesco; and Rising Star honors went to One Kings Lane. Michael Aram of Michael Aram was recognized with the Gift for Life Industry Achievement Awards.
Retail category applications and nominations forms can be submitted by retailers or by manufacturers’ representatives; nominations for “Rep of the Year” can be submitted by retailers only; and nominations for “Rising Star” are limited to individuals or companies who have made their mark in four years of business or less.
NYIGF runs Saturday, August 18, through Thursday, August 23, 2012, at the JavitsCenter and Passenger Ship Terminal Piers 92 and 94 in New York City . NYIGF is the nation’s premier gift, home and lifestyle marketplace, with 2,800+ exhibiting companies featuring an extraordinary breadth and depth of design-driven home fashion products and complementary giftware. Some 35,000 attendees from all 50 states and more than 80 countries worldwide are expected. Information and registration is available online at www.nyigf.com.