Sydney based retailer Koskela took out top honours last night at the gia awards in Chicago. Held for the 15th time at the Radisson Blu Aqua Hotel, Koskela was named one of five global honourees.
Winning the award is quite a feat for a store that was only launched in 2012 and for co-owner Sasha Titchkosky the win confirms that Koskela is definitely on the right track.
“Winning the gia award last night is fantastic recognition for the gamble we took three years ago, opening in a big old warehouse in an area of Sydney no one had heard of,” she says.
“It’s so exciting to realise that we’ve created something that can sit proudly on the world stage and is a real testament to our great team and the commitment we have to showcasing great Australian, ethically made products.”
This year, 25 national gia winners from 24 countries were selected by co-sponsoring trade publications. All winners were automatically entered into the global competition at the International Home + Housewares Show in Chicago, where the global jury selected the final gia global honourees.
The other global honourees included Presentes Rodriguez of Brazil, Hudson’s Bay from Canada, Jumbo in Turkey and John Lewis in the UK. In addition, the Martin M. Pegler Award for Excellence in Visual Merchandising was awarded to Organizza of Argentina.
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 320 gia retail award winners, from 40 countries.
