Excellence in retailing is something to which all retailers should aspire — and for which the successful aspirants should be extravagantly lauded. So it goes with the Retail Council of Canada’s (RCC’s) annual Excellence in Retailing Awards, the finalists for which have just been announced.
This, the twentieth version of this event, celebrates — in 10 retail categories — those merchants the RCC has declared the “most innovative.”
The 87 finalists from 50 retail companies are:
• Alcool NB Liquor
• Bulk Barn Foods Limited
• Cineplex Entertainment
• FGL Sports
• Goeasy Ltd.
• Holt Renfrew
• IKEA Canada Limited Partnership
• LCBO
• M&M Food Market
• Mark’s
• Nova Scotia Liquor Corporation
• RONA
• Shoes.com
• Sobeys
• Staples Canada
• Ten Thousand Villages
• Bauer (division of Performance Sports Group)
• Canada Post
• Costco Canada
• Foodland
• Groupe Dynamite
• Home Hardware Stores Limited
• Indigo
• Liquor Stores, NA
• Mac’s Convenience Stores
• Metro
• PetSmart Canada
• Sears Canada
• Shoppers Drug Mart
• Sobeys Express
• Surmesur
• The Beer Store
• Best Buy Canada
• Canadian Tire Corporation Ltd.
• David’s Bridal
• Frank & Oak
• H&M
• Hudson’s Bay Company
• La Maison Simons
• Loblaw Companies Limited
• Manitoba Telecom Services
• Michael Hill Jeweller
• Reitmans
• Sephora
• Sleep Country Canada
• Sport Chek
• TELUS Retail Limited
• The Source
The 2016 winners will be announced at the Excellence in Retailing Awards gala in Toronto on May 31.
The gala will also pay tribute to various standout individuals in Canada’s retail scene. They are:
• Louise Wendling, former country manager of Costco Wholesale Canada, RCC’s 2016 Lifetime Achievement Award winner;
• Andrew Lutfy, CEO of Groupe Dynamite, RCC’s 2016 Distinguished Canadian Retailer of the Year;
• Cameron Baty and Karina Birch, co-owners of Rocky Mountain Soap Company, RCC’s 2016 Independent Retail Ambassador of the Year.
