E*TRADE: ISP/VM+SD Store of the Year

E*TRADE's New York flagship store on Madison Avenue, which opened last spring as the online financial services provider's first on-land presence, was named Store of the Year in the annual VM+SD/Institute of Store Planners Store Design Awards competition. Retail Planning Associates (RPA, Columbus, Ohio) was the design firm responsible for the project, working in collaboration with E*TRADE's vp of retail marketing, Tim Heard.

ISP judges, who in years past leaned towards department and specialty stores for their top honors, said they liked the sense of “the future” that this store and its design conveyed. Last year's winner was the David Jones department store in Melbourne, Australia. Other recent winners have included Cortefiel (Madrid), Explore II (Seattle) and Holt Renfrew (Toronto).

Convening in Boston in November, the six-member ISP panel reviewed nearly 170 entries in 20 categories. In addition to Store of the Year, judges selected 20 First Place Awards in the various categories, two Special Awards (for fixturing and lighting) and 35 Awards of Merit.

Judges included Rob Ceretti, R. Ceretti + Associates (New York); Joe Nevin, Bergmeyer Associates (Boston); Sarah Opila, Talbots Store Planning and Design Department (Hingham, Mass.); Luanne Perry, Comprehensive Development Corp. (Weymouth, Mass.); Jim Reavey, John J. Cahill Displays (Boston); and Tracy Zaslow, Retail Identity Management (Upton, Mass.). Organizers and moderators included Sandra Baron, Construction Services Group (Wakefield, Mass.); Tom Lyons, John J. Cahill Displays; ISP member Fred Robinson (St. Louis); and Carole Winters, associate publisher, VM+SD, Cincinnati.

E*TRADE was selected in the Financial Retailer category. Some other category winners included: Woolworth's, Gateway Shopping Center, Kwazulu-Natal, Republic of South Africa, New or Completely Renovated Full-Line Department Store; Neiman Marcus, International Plaza, Tampa, Fla., (Robert Young Associates, Dallas), New or Completely Renovated Specialty Department Store; mishmash, Woodfield Shopping Center, Schaumburg, Ill., Specialty Stores, 1500-3000 Square Feet; World Duty Free, San Ysidro, Calif., (GRID2 International, New York), Specialty Stores 5000-10,000 Square Feet; Bass Pro Shops Outdoor World, Discover Mills, Lawrenceville, Ga., Large Format Store Over 10,000 Square Feet; and freshgo, Potomac Woods Plaza, Rockville, Md. (GRID2 International, New York), Supermarkets.

The winners were announced Jan. 14, 2002, at a special ISP/VM+SD banquet and ceremony at the Puck Building in New York. A review of some of the winners was presented on January 16 in a session of the National Retail Federation annual conference in the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center by VM+SD editor Steve Kaufman.

A full list of all categories'grand prize winners and awards of merit, and descriptions of the winners, can be found in the February issue of VM+SD. Images of all the category award winners and awards of merit will appear on VM+SD's web site, www.vmsd.com.