A.R.E. Awards Are Unveiled

A grocery store in the Philippines and an eco-friendly fixture for a mobile network brand in London took top honors in the 2008 Retail Design Awards from the Association for Retail Environments (A.R.E., formerly NASFM). The winners in the annual competition were unveiled yesterday at an awards banquet during GlobalShop in Chicago.

Store of the Year honors went to the Landmark supermarket in Manila. (That project also won the supermarket category in this year’s ISP/VMSD International Store Design Competition.) Named Fixture of the Year by A.R.E. judges was the “Guru Bar” in the 02 Concept Store in London.

Other winners in the competition are outlined below, starting with the grand prizes in the store design competition:

Restaurants: Lavazza-Expression, Mannheim, Germany; and sweetgreen, Washington, D.C.

Specialty food retailer: Cellar 360, San Francisco

Softline shop within a store: Saks Fifth Avenue: 8th Floor Shoes, New York

Department store: Seibu, Jakarta, Indonesia

Hardline specialty store up to 3000 square feet: 3rd Nature, Teaneck, N.J.

Hardline specialty store 3001–25,000 square feet: Sony Ericsson, London

Softline Specialty Store up to 3000 Square feet: Capezio, Toronto

Softline Specialty Store, 3001¬–25,000 square feet: G by Guess, multiple U.S. locations; and Parasuco, Montreal

Specialty Store over 25,000 square feet: Casa Palacio, Mexico City

Store fixture awards went to:

Cellar 360: wine display gondola, San Francisco

Corso Matteotti: reclaimed wood cashwrap, Milan, Italy

Fido: kiosk, Fairview Pointe Claire, Que.

Li Ning Mini Shoe Store: curved shoe wall, Nanjing, China

Maska: cash unit, Sainte-Foy, Que.

Michelin on Main: tire-topped displays, Greenville, S.C.

The O2 Concept Store: experience tables, London

Parasuco: cash unit, Montreal

Parasuco: mirrored 2-way, Montreal

Robinsons: climb & slide fixture, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Shiekh – Timberland Urban Concept Shop: shoe wall & floor display grouping, Culver City, Calif.

Sundance: adjustable wood floor fixtures, Lone Tree, Colo.

Sundance: perimeter displays & rail system, Lone Tree, Colo.

Things Remembered: jewelry case displays, Akron, Ohio

Virgin Megastore: gig-style merchandising cases, Manchester, U.K.

Zonik: demo go-round interactive kiosk, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

Visual presentation awards went to:

Cellar 360: ceiling/floor wine light element, San Francisco

Fortunoff: corridor display cases, New York

Maska: forms and boots, Sainte-Foy, Que.

Special installation award:

Italy at South Coast Plaza, Costa Mesa, Calif.

Green Design Recognition Awards went to:

Cellar 360, San Francisco

Corso Matteotti, Milan, Italy

Dockers, San Francisco

Elephant Pharm, Walnut Creek, Calif.

New Balance, Mashpee, Mass.

The North Face, New York

The O2 Concept Store, London

Plaza Too, New York

REI, Boulder, Colo.

Timberland Outdoor Performance, Salt Lake City