Gifts & Decorative Accessories Names 2011 Retailer Excellence Award Winners
Honors Also Recognize Outstanding Manufacturers' Rep and Industry Rising Star; Michael Aram and Su Hilty Receive Achievement Honors
GDA Staff -- Gifts and Dec, 8/15/2011 12:36:49 AM
New York - It may have been raining in New York City, but that didn't keep the bright lights from shining as the winners of Gifts & Decorative Accessories' 60th annual Retailer Excellence Awards were revealed last night at the Retailer Excellence Awards gala. Members from across all facets of the gift and home industries gathered to applaud all the finalists, winners and other honorees.
Taking Retailer Excellence Award top honors are:
Gift Store Design/Redesign: The Sixth Floor Museum Store & Café at Dealey Plaza, Dallas, TX
International Gift Store Design/Redesign: Artel, Prague, Czech Republic
Marketing Achievement: Virtu, Chicago, IL
Visual Merchandising: Rolling Greens, Los Angeles, CA
Store Events: MAZE Home, Winnetka, IL
In presenting the Store Design/Redesign Awards it was noted that due to the quality of the entries the judges could not name just one winner; Dorothy Belshaw, show director of the New York International Gift Fair, observing how the entries reflected that we are truly a global community, presented the first International Retailer Excellence Award to Artel from the Czech Republic.
Setting the tone for the evening's presentations was the Industry Rising Star Award. It was presented by G&DA's editorial director Warren Shoulberg to One Kings Lane, which in less than three years has become a members-only go-to site for top brand and designer name gift and home décor items. Co-founder Susan Feldman, applauded by her One Kings Lane colleagues and many of her site's suppliers and shoppers, was gracious in her acceptance of the award.
Following the Rising Star Award, the contributions of our industry's hard-working manufacturers' reps were recognized. The retailer-nominated Outstanding Manufacturers' Rep award was presented to Nancy Messina of Gund.
Two special honors capped off the evening. The first was the Industry Achievement Award presented by Gift for Life, the gift, stationery and home industries charitable arm. Leslie Nathan Street, chairperson of the Gift for Life board, and Gift for Life founder Peter Schauben, presented the award to Michael Aram, as an artisan and a designer, as well as for his work in supporting AIDS awareness and prevention.
A Lifetime Achievement Award, presented to Su Hilty by G&DA's Warren Shouldberg, Nancy Wolkow and Caroline Kennedy, closed out the evening's honors. Hilty, who recently retired as vice president of marketing for showroom building 7 W New York, was both humbled and moved by the honor.
Congratulations to all the award recipients especially Su Hilty who so deserves this recognition!
Jenny Hammons - 2011-08-15 11:17:55 EDT
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