Great news for Australian retail with Few and Far winning the coveted gia award last Thursday night during a live-streamed event.
With the cancellation of Chicago-based trade fair The Inspired Home Show, the gia awards unfortunately also couldn’t go ahead. However, the organisers decided to announce the winners via a live stream hosted on the show’s website and Facebook page.
Few and Far owners Tara and Danny Solberg admit 2020 has been quite the whirlwind with the beginning of the year seeing them directly affected by the bushfires for several weeks, and then to have Covid-19 come into play shorty after (and just before they were due to fly to Chicago for the gia Awards!) has definitely brought some challenges.
“This morning’s announcement (1am AEST) that we have won the Global Honouree Award at the gia Awards was so exciting and extremely gratifying, and we feel so honoured to have been announced as winner (even if it was the first award we have ever accepted in our pyjamas!),” enthuses Tara after the virtual awards ceremony.
“Thank you (so much!) to the International Housewares Association (IHA) for recognising our stores on a global scale. We are absolutely thrilled.
“We absolutely love what we do and to be rewarded for our passion, hard work and efforts is so exhilarating and definitely an event to be remembered. It’s also encouraging to know that we are following the right path.”
Now with five stores to its name, Few and Far is known for its curated collection of handcrafted, one-of-a-kind, and unique product ranges. Its collection is a mix of old and new and includes antiques from India, China, Indonesia and Turkey.
Tara says that despite recent events, Few and Far is still going strong. “We’re extremely fortunate that the hard work and plans we have put in place have led to creating an established business, therefore we are still trading successfully during this unprecedented time.
“Our online store has been performing better than ever and we are utilising this time to put more procedures in place to ensure we continue to maintain longevity and positive growth.”
While Tara and her husband missed out on visiting Chicago this year, they will be able to pick up their award next March. Because the gia dinner was not held this year, the 2019-2020 national winners and Global Honourees will be honoured at the gia awards dinner held during The Inspired Home Show 2021 next year.
“We can’t wait to attend the event in 2021 in Chicago and to be able to celebrate our win and to share an inspirational experience with the many other businesses that had been selected. It’s such a shame we couldn’t attend this year, but we’re looking forward to the opportunity of getting ‘dressed up’ and immersing ourselves in the ‘experience’ of the show in 2021 and all that Chicago has to offer. ”
Other Global Honourees for Retail Excellence include Reina Batata Bazar Boutique (Argentina), Isetan Shinjuku (Japan), Central Department Store (Thailand), PROMENU by MIRS Corporation (Ukraine) and Tavola (United Arab Emirates.
In addition, the Martin M. Pegler Award for Excellence in Visual Merchandising was awarded to Sibler AG of Switzerland and the gia Digital Commerce Award for Excellence in Online Retailing was awarded to In&Out Cooking of Portugal.
“Congratulations to all of these outstanding retailers,” says Derek Miller, IHA president.
“Our expert jury thought this was such an exceptional year for entries they recognised six Global Honourees.
“All of our national winners provide great examples of best-in-class housewares merchandising.”
The gia program was created by IHA and The Inspired Home 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 460 gia retail award winners, from 48 countries on six continents.
