The Association for Retail Environments (A.R.E.) hosted its jewel-in-its-crown event earlier this month, and the results were as illuminating about the kingdom as a whole as they normally are.

The A.R.E. Design Awards are held to honour all aspects of retail design from around the world. This year’s theme was “retail mixology.” The event was held at the Four Seasons in Vegas, and was co-hosted by Sue McCoy, vice president of store design and shop development for Jones Apparel Group, and Christopher Love, vice president of architecture and construction for the BCBG Max Azria Group.

In all, more than 250 projects were reviewed by some of the glitterati of the retail industry, delivering their verdicts at the end of January. The prizes were distributed on opening night of GlobalShop, the world’s largest annual store design and at-retail marketing show.

When the dust had cleared, this international nonprofit trade association devoted to advancing the retail environments industry had handed out 69 awards in 24 different categories. Winners hailed from the U.S., Chile, Singapore, South Africa, France, Turkey, Chile and Italy.

We are proud to have one of our clients and a location we supplied receive an honourable mention in the Fast Food and Casual Dining category.  Starbucks’ Westmount Square location in Montreal was distinguished for creating a contemporary space that reflects the heritage of its landmark neighbourhood.

Among the other highlights were those most coveted nods given for Visual Presentation of the Year, Fixture of the Year, Sustainable Project of the Year and Store of the Year. 

These award highlights were:

Store of the Year – RH Restoration Hardware, Boston, Mass.

Visual Presentation of the Year – Apple iPhone 5s & 5c Windows, Apple Store, Worldwide

Fixture of the Year – Under Armour, Well-branded Cashwrap, Baltimore, Md.

Sustainability Project of the Year – Whole Foods Market, Detroit.

A full list of the A.R.E. Design Awards 2014 winners can be found here.