The Retail Council of Canada (RCC) presented its awards for outstanding performance at its ninth annual Excellence in Retailing Awards dinner earlier this week.
The 450-store Canadian Tire Corp. won the Distinguished Canadian Retailer of the Year award. Henry Singer Fashion Group, a three-store menswear retailer in Edmonton, Alta., was named Innovative Retailer of the Year award in the Small Retailer category; Running Room, also of Edmonton, was honored as Innovative Retailer of the Year in the Mid-size Retailer category. Costco Wholesale Canada, a division of Costco Wholesale Corp. was named Innovative Retailer of the Year award in the Large Retailer category.
Loblaw Cos. Ltd., the 1600-plus supermarket chain, won the organization’s Retail Store Design & Layout Award for its price-aggressive new Real Canadian SuperStore in Toronto, a store that merged the Loblaws identity with the Real Canadian SuperStore promise of “Lower Prices, Real Savings.” Five to 10 more stores are slated to open in 2004 and 05.
The Mid-size Category winner was The Bombay Co. Inc. for the launch of its BombayKIDS stores throughout Canada.
The Small Category winner was Chateau des Charmes in Niagara, Ont., for its strategy to tap the retail channels driven by Niagara’s tourism industry.
The Home Depot won the organization’s Community Outreach Award for hosting a nationwide volunteer day on the occasion of opening its 100th store in the country in November and donating more than 10,000 volunteer hours among its employees to Canadian communities.
Liquor Control Board of Ontario, Hallmark Canada and Hudson’s Bay Co. Ltd. won the Retail Marketing Awards. Hudson’s Bay also won the Retail Technology Award for designing a web-based appointment scheduling system to realize lower inventories, increased goods movement and $2 million in annual savings. And LCBO also won the Canada Post Excellence in Multi-Channel Retailing Award for its Ciao Italia – Italian promotion of Italian wines. LCBO launched an aggressive campaign with in-store P-O-P, a Ciao Italia web site, radio advertising, outdoor advertising and a strong PR campaign. As a result, sales of Italian wines were up more than 30 percent, sales of participating products jumped more than 57 percent and ROI on the campaign hit 103 percent.
Perennial Inc., Toronto-based store design and consulting firm, was a big winner for its work on both the Loblaw and Chateau des Charmes projects.