Holt Renfrew Awarded NASFM Store of the Year

The National Association of Store Fixture Manufacturers (NASFM) presented 51 awards at its 33rd retail design awards program Monday, March 22. Winning Store of the Year was Toronto’s Holt Renfrew department store, designed by burdifilek and built by NASFM member Unique Store Fixtures (Concord, Ontario). Futuretronics’ Orlando store received Fixture of the Year for its Display Pod Grouping. Awards included 13 Grand Prizes, 18 Outstanding Merits, and 18 Store Fixture Awards.

Retailers, designers, and store fixture manufacturers were recognized in the hour-long awards ceremony in the Great Hall of the Fashion Show—Las Vegas. This year’s winners, selected from 215 entries for projects completed in 2003, blurred the lines between architecture and store fixturing and integrated branding into store fixtures in unique ways.

Nearly a third of the projects, 32%, went to Canadian stores and fixtures. The next closest geographic region, the Midwestern United States, had half as many with 16%, followed closely by the West Coast with 14%. The Northeast and the Southeast tied for winning projects, taking home 10% each, and the Southwest claimed 4% of the awards. Twelve percent of the awards were presented for projects outside of the United States and Canada—namely, Tokyo, Mexico, and the United Kingdom.

Judges for this year's competition were: Kevin Brailsford, Vice President, Store Environments, Blockbuster Store Planning; Ted Clemens, Vice President, Store Planning, Abercrombie & Fitch; Barbara Emerson, Vice President, Store Planning & Design, Sephora; David Milne, Principal, Creative Director, David Milne Design Associates; Mark Randall, Director, Fixture Purchasing, Best Buy Co.; Kathleen Socha, President/Design Director, Phase One Design Services Inc.; RoxAnna Sway, Editor, DDI; and Carole Winters, Associate Publisher, VM+SD Magazine.

Information on the winning projects will be featured in the May and June issues of VM+SD magazine. NASFM’s Retail Design Awards recognize outstanding contributions to the field and focus attention on the significant role fixtures play in retail environments. Next year’s early-entry deadline of Dec. 15, 2004. Information about the competition will be posted on www. vmsd.com and www.nasfm.org as the deadline approaches.

NASFM is an international, not-for-profit association representing the store fixture manufacturing industry since 1956. The association's membership includes 350 regular member companies operating over 750 plants and employing more than 75,000 people worldwide; 250 industry suppliers are associate members. NASFM members manufacture an estimated 85 percent of all store fixtures produced in North America.