Tom Carter and Alison Hobbs of Potters Cookshop Hockley were among the 30 exceptional retailers from around the globe that were applauded at the gia (Global Innovation Awards) gala in Chicago (Saturday March 2), which coincides with The International Home + Housewares Show (IH+HS, March 2-5).
In addition to recognising the achievements of these 30 national gia winners, The IH+HS and the International Housewares Association (IHA) (global sponsors and organisers of the gia programme) also announced the 2019 gia Global Honorees for Retail Excellence.
The Global Honorees are: Jumbled of Australia,Bahneof Denmark,S-KULTU of Germany, Futako Tamagawa TSUTAYA ELECTRICS of Japan, and Porland of Turkey.
Meanwhile, the Martin M Pegler Award for Excellence in Visual Merchandising was awarded to La Cuisine of the Netherlands and the gia Digital Commerce Award for Excellence in Online Retailing went to 9design of Poland.
The gia Global Honorees were selected from the 30 national gia winners by a global gia jury, consisting of four retail/visual merchandising experts and seven editors and publishers of co-sponsoring housewares trade publications from around the world. Each store was evaluated across several different retail criteria.
All national winners are part of a showcase at the IH+HS, including a series of banners over the walkway to the show’s Hall of Global Innovation.
Commenting on the gia experience and the show, Tom Carter, director of Potters Cookshop said: “This is a world-wind of an experience and inspires us for the year ahead. It is a honour to be here and be recognised along with the 29 other amazing retailers from around the world.”
The gia program was created by the IHA and IH+HS to foster innovation and excellence in home and housewares retailing. Since the launch of gia in 2000, there have been more than430 gia retail award winners, from 47 countries on six continents. Progressive Housewares is the exclusive UK gia sponsor. Visit www.housewares.org/gia
Top: Tom Carter and Alison Hobbs of Potters Cookshop holding their gia UK winner’s trophy, with Progressive Housewares and HousewaresNews.net’s publishing director / joint owner Rob Willis.
