Great News! Gourmet Cookware and Cooking School in San Diego has been selected as the U.S. Global Innovator Award winner.
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The International Home + Housewares Show (IH+HS) and International Housewares Association (IHA), primary sponsors of gia, will recognize the 2011-2012 winners from more than 20 countries, including Great News! Cookware and Cooking School, at the 12th annual Global Innovator Awards (gia) at in Chicago on March 11.
Honoring excellence in housewares retailing, the gia program was created by the IHA in 1999 to honor housewares retailing innovation and merchandising distinction worldwide.
The Gourmet Retailer magazine, a co-sponsor of the U.S. gia for independent kitchenware retailers, selected the winner, after soliciting and reviewing nominations from the industry.
Great News! Cookware and Cooking School was the ideal choice for The Gourmet Retailer’s Kitchenware Retailer of the Year and the U.S. gia award, says Anna Wolfe, editor-in-chief of The Gourmet Retailer magazine. “Ron Eisenberg and his capable team at Great News! have proven that it is possible for independent gourmet retailers to thrive in today’s marketplace,” she says. “They’re passionate about providing their customers the best service possible while offering a robust selection of popular brands. They’re tireless in their promotion efforts and use television advertising, email marketing, direct mail and social media to keep their store and their classes front-of-mind for today’s busy consumer.”
The 6,200-square-foot gourmet kitchenware store, located in the Pacific Beach area of San Diego, features 17,000 SKUs of high-end cookware, cutlery, gadgets, small electrics and more. The store also features a 1,200-square-foot, state-of-the art cooking school that offers cooking classes daily. Great News! Cookware and Cooking School will be featured in the February issue of The Gourmet Retailer.
The gia competition is structured both on a national and global level to honor independent and multiple location housewares retailers for excellence in several business categories including mission, layout and design, visual merchandising, marketing, customer service, staff training and innovation.
Each national winner will travel to the IH+HS where the global gia jury, consisting of four experts representing Asia, Europe and the Americas, plus a rotating group of co-sponsoring trade publication editors, will select the five Global gia Honorees.
From March 10-13 at McCormick Place, IH+HS show attendees will be able to see photo displays of the gia winners. The gia Showcase in the Grand Concourse Lobby will feature visual displays of each store’s award-winning efforts.
Banners for the 20+ winning retailers will be hung in the walkway that connects the Grand Concourse and the Lakeside Center. For more information, about gia visit www.housewares.org/gia.
