The 10th annual Global Innovator Awards (gia) kicked off with a bang this week as the 2009-2010 global gia honourees and the world’s best retailers were announced at a gala celebration at the International Home + Housewares Show in Chicago.
The gia competition is structured over two levels – national and global – and an international jury assesses several business categories when determining the winners.
A total of 17 national winners from 16 countries were honoured in the gala ceremony as the world’s best retailers for 2009-2010, of which five were selected as global gia honourees by an international jury.
These include Stark & Whyte from Canada, Ambiente Gourmet from Colombia, Galeria Kaufhof from Germany, I Love My House Barrazoni from Italy and Steamer Trading Cookshop from the UK.
In addition, the Martin M Pegler Award for excellence in visual merchandising, which honours the best window display of the year, was bestowed on I Love my House Barrazoni from Italy.
As primary gia sponsors, the International Home + Housewares Show (IHHS) and International Housewares Association (IHA) established the awards in 1999 to honour excellence and innovation in homewares retailing and merchandising at an international retail level.
The gia jury consisted of four retail experts including Martin Pegler, Professor and Lecturer in New York, Wolfgang Gruschwitz of Gruschwitz Corporation in Munich, Scott Kohno from The Retail Element in Los Angeles and Henrik Peter Reisby Nielson from Warranty Hotel in Denmark. Six global trade press jurors also sat on the panel.