Las Vegas—The 57 awards presented by the Association for Retail Environments at a ceremony in the Venetian honor the creators of retail theater worldwide. Winning projects came from as near as Scottsdale, Ariz., and as far as China, with representation from everywhere in between, including a strong showing from Canada.

Store of the Year

Winning Store of the Year was the Gensler-designed Wenger® Maker of the Genuine Swiss Army Knife. The Boulder, Colo., store is the first U.S. retail flagship for the 116-year-old brand.

Fixture of the Year

Wall Display Cells designed by Giorgio Borruso Design for the Carlo Pazolini store in Milan's Piazza Cordusio won Fixture of the Year.

Visual Presentation of the Year

Visual Presentation of the Year went to the Coffee Capsuled display of the Nespresso store in EGER Karl Johan in Oslo, Norway.

Sustainable Project of the Year

A clearly defined integrated design approach, high benchmarking achievements, and innovative energy and waste reduction features earned Albertsons Clairemont, the coveted Sustainable Project of the Year Award. Among the features that impressed the judges were an on-site cogenerative fuel cell powering the San Diego store and near zero waste operations.

And much more!

Also presented were 15 grand prizes; 17 outstanding merits; 10 special awards for flooring, in-store communications, lighting, visual presentation, and wall treatments; and 9 store fixture awards.

Judges were Mitch Abbott, The Rockport Company; Luiz Andrade, Sony Electronics; Jessie Bove, DDI; Elizabeth Dowd, REI; Anne Dinardo, VMSD; Katherine Field, Chain Store Age; Danette Kroll, Foot Locker; and Charles Sparks, Charles Sparks & Co.

The A.R.E. Design Awards, formerly the NASFM Retail Design Awards, just celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2011, making it the longest-running competition of its kind. The program, which receives nearly 300 submissions from around the world annually, typically awards 50-55 trophies for full store, shop in a store, sustainability, store fixtures, visual presentation, lighting, flooring, wall treatments and in-store communications. The A.R.E. Design Awards is the premier design awards for the retail design and construction industry, garnering coverage in more industry print and electronic publications than any other competition. Winners are recognized at an awards ceremony during GlobalShop, and in the A.R.E. Winners Book, and VMSD, and DDI magazines, among others. Additionally, winners receive acccolades online and are included in a multi-year database dating back to the year 2000. This awards program is truly the Academy Awards of our industry.

SOURCE: Assn. for Retail Environments