Housewares Business-to-business magazine for housewares retailers and their suppliers
London cookshop chain Borough Kitchen will represent the UK in the IHA Global Innovation Awards (gia) programme of international housewares retailers, at the International Home + Housewares Show in Chicago from March 18-21.
The gia programme was created by the International Home + Housewares Show and the International Housewares Association (IHA) of the US, to foster innovation and excellence in home and housewares retailing throughout the world.
Since the launch of gia in 2000, there have been close to 350 gia retail award winners, from over 40 countries on six continents. Last year, there were 25 national gia winners from 23 countries around the globe.
The competition is structured on a two-tier level, national and global. The national winners are rated 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 and innovation.
Each national gia winner is invited to the show where they are honoured at an awards dinner. Up to five of these retailers are then further honored as gia Global Honorees, based on the determination of a panel of international retail experts. In addition, one national winner is selected for the Martin M. Pegler Award for Excellence in Visual Merchandising, and one national winner is selected for the gia Digital Commerce Award for Excellence in Online Retailing.
Borough Kitchen founder Justin Kowbel told www.HouserwaresLive.net that “we couldn’t be more excited” by the news.
There are three branches of Borough Kitchen branches across the capital at Borough Market on Borough High Street in south-east London, Hampstead High Street in north-west London, and Chiswick High Road in west London.
The company says: ‘We cater to the urban at-home chef to provide everything that’s needed for entertaining, from the kitchen to the table.
‘We opened Borough Kitchen in 2013 within Borough Market, London’s most renowned food market. In May 2015, we opened our second location at 1 Hampstead High Street, followed by the relaunch of our online shop www.boroughkitchen.com. In April 2016, we opened a new location in Chiswick, in the heart of an area rich with great foodie businesses and residents
‘We provide what we believe is the ‘best of the best’ and, where there is a high-quality value alternative, the ‘best of value’.
Last year’s UK national gia winner was Lords which was also named as a Global Honoree. The 2014-2015 gia Global Honorees included John Lewis (UK) while Lakeland was a Global Honoree in 2013-2014.
