The International Home + Housewares Show and International Housewares Association (IHA), the global sponsors and organizers of the IHA Global Innovation Awards (gia) program, today announced the national gia winners of 2016-2017 – including 28 outstanding home and housewares retailers from 27 countries around the globe.

The gia program was created by the IHA and International Home + Housewares Show to foster innovation and excellence in home and housewares retailing throughout the world. Since the launch of gia in 2000, there have been over 370 gia retail award winners, from 45 countries on six continents.

The 2016-2017 national gia winners are:

The gia competition is structured on a two-tier level, national and global, to honor independent and multiple location home and housewares retailers for excellence in several business categories:

• Overall mission statement, vision and strategy
• Store design and layout
• Visual merchandising, displays and window displays
• Marketing, advertising and promotions
• Customer service and staff training
• Innovation

Each national gia winner is invited to the International Home + Housewares Show in Chicago where the global gia jury, consisting of four experts representing Asia, Europe and the Americas, plus a rotating group of co-sponsoring trade publication editors from around the world, will select up to five gia Global Honorees and the winners of the Martin M. Pegler Award for Excellence in Visual Merchandising and the gia Digital Commerce Award for Excellence in Online Retailing.

During the 2017 International Home + Housewares Show March 18-21 at McCormick Place, the national winners will be honored at a festive awards dinner on Saturday, March 18, where the gia Global Honorees and the winners of the Martin M. Pegler Award for Excellence in Visual Merchandising and the gia Digital Commerce Award for Excellence in Online Retailing will be announced.

The national winners also are featured in the gia showcase in the Hall of Global Innovation in the Lakeside Center Lobby, where visuals of their award-winning store design and branding ideas, exquisite visual merchandising and innovative displays are on display. Banners for the honored retailers can be seen in the walkway that connects the Grand Concourse and the Lakeside Center.

gia is more than an awards program. Representing retailing excellence around the world, it is part of a larger education initiative that includes seminars by retail experts, columns in international housewares publications and educational sessions at events in sponsors’ home countries. As part of gia’s educational offering, on Monday, March 20 the four gia Expert Jurors, Wolfgang Gruschwitz, Scott Kohno, Henrik Peter Reisby Nielsen and Anne Kong will present a special session in the Innovation Theater, “Top 10 Retail Trends for Customer Engagement.”

For more information about the IHA Global Innovation Awards (gia) program, the co-sponsors, or participating in 2017-2018, contact Piritta Törrö at piritta.torro@inspiredconnection.fi. Additional information on the gia program is also available online at www.housewares.org/show/gia-retail. For more information on the 2017 International Home + Housewares Show and to pre-register for an entrance badge, visit www.housewares.org.