ISP/VM+SD Competition Winners Announced

The Aveda Tokyo Lifestyle Salon and Spa has been named Store of the Year in the 2003 Institute of Store Planners/VM+SD International Store Design Competition. Winners in the 33rd annual edition of the competition were unveiled Monday night at a ceremony at the Puck Building in New York.

The Aveda facility was created by FRCH Design Worldwide (Cincinnati) and designers from Aveda and its parent company, Estee Lauder. Judges in the competition lauded the 3-story, 6000-square-foot facility for “its confident use of materials” and “for pushing the brand in a new direction in a powerful fashion.”

First-place award winners in 16 categories were also unveiled at the ceremony, including Coach, Mikasa and Nebraska Furniture Mart. In addition, judges also handed out nine Special Merit Awards and 27 Awards of Merit.

The seven-member judging panel for the competition — which included retailers, contract designers and an educator — convened in Cincinnati in November. In all, the judges reviewed more than 140 entries in 19 categories.

Complete coverage of the competition winners will appear in the February issue of VM+SD.

For an online list of all winners, click here.