Housewares Business-to-business magazine for housewares retailers and their suppliers
Lords At Home will represent the UK in the the Global Innovation Awards (gia) programme of international housewares retailers, at the International Home + Housewares Show in Chicago next month.
The gia programme was created by the International Home + Housewares Show and the International Housewares Association of the US, to foster innovation and excellence in home and housewares retailing throughout the world.
Since the launch of gia in 2000, there have been close to 350 gia retail award winners, from over 40 countries on six continents. For 2015-2016, there are 25 national gia winners from 23 countries around the globe.
Shanker Patel, ceo of Lords Group of Companies, said he was “completely surprised and overwhelmed” when he heard the news of the win.“To be the winner is a real honour,” he said. “It inspires us with confidence and makes us proud that what we have set out to achieve is recognised by others.”
Lords At Home’s ‘founding sisters’ [Shanker’s wife Rachna Dewan, who is product director, and her sister Rita Dewan, who is brand director], are looking forward to attending the gia awards ceremony at show, which takes place from March 5 to March 8.
There are six Lords At Home branches in and round London, at Westbourne Grove, Holland Park, Northcote Road (Battersea), St John’s Wood, Hampstead and Chorleywood.
The gia competition is structured on a two-tier level – national and global – to honour 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 and innovation.
The 2015-2016 national gia winners are Claudia Adorno (Argentina), Pigeonhole (Australia), Etna (Brazil), Lakehouse Home Store (Canada), Wu Ben Liu He (China), Bojanini (Colombia), Illums Bolighus (Denmark), Kaubamaja, Estonia (Eastern Europe), La Trésorerie (France), Homann schenken–kochen-wohnen (Germany),J&B Hope Ltd (Ireland), puesme home (Italy), La Cucina Felice (Japan), Kitchen Shop (Malaysia),Home Centre, United Arab Emirates (Middle East), K’OOK! (Netherlands), BBHome (Poland), Cité Marilou (Russia), Cooking the Kitchen Company (Spain), Karaca Home (Turkey), Lords At Home (UK), Siñeriz Shopping (Uruguay), Whisk (USA), Leon & Lulu (USA –gift retailer) and Chef’s Resource (USA- internet/catalogue).
Each national gia winner is invited to the show where the 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, the winners of the Martin M. Pegler Award for Excellence in Visual Merchandising and the gia Digital Commerce Award for Excellence in Online Retailing.
During the show, the winners will be honoured at a festive awards dinner, where the 2015-2016 gia Global Honorees, the winners of the Martin M. Pegler Award for Excellence in Visual Merchandising and the gia Digital Commerce Award for Excellence in Online Retailing will be announced. O
Other gia highlights at the 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 and examples of their visual merchandising and displays will be on display. Banners for the honoured retailers will be hung on the walkway that connects the Grand Concourse and the Lakeside Center.
Gia is more than an awards programme: 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.
As part of gia’s educational offering, on March 7, the four gia jurors – Martin M. Pegler, Wolfgang Gruschwitz, Scott Kohno and Henrik Peter Reisby Nielsen – will conduct a special session in the show’s Innovation Theater on the topic of ‘Top Ten Retail Trends for 2016’.
The 2014-2015 gia Global Honorees were: John Lewis (UK), Koskela (Australia), Presentes Rodriguez (Brazil) Hudson’s Bay (Canada) and Jumbo (Turkey). Lakeland was the gia UK winner and a Global Honoree in 2013-2014.
*A feature on Lords At Home appears in the January/February 2016 issue of Housewares Magazine. To subscribe, click on the box on the top right of the home page.
Lords At Home’s ‘founding sisters’: product director Rachna Dewan and brand director Rita Dewan
