Awards

New York City -- The National Retail Federation on Friday released its 2010 list that annually ranks the 10 stores with the best customer service.

The list is based on surveys of more than 9,000 shoppers, all asked the following question: “Thinking of all the different retail formats (store, catalog, Internet or home shopping), which retailer delivers the best customer service?”

In total, the NRF ranked 46 stores, and will release the complete list in January.

Orange County, Calif. -- The District at Tustin Legacy, a 1 million-sq.-ft. lifestyle and entertainment center located in Orange County, Calif., has been awarded the 2010 CalRecycle Waste Reduction Award for being a regional leader in recycling and waste reduction. 

San Bernardino, Calif.  -- Stater Bros. has been recognized as a 2010 WRAP (Waste Reduction Awards Program) Winner by the California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle). Among the supermarket operator’s accomplishments: a “green waste” composting program that turns organic waste from its 167 locations into compost that is sold to area farmers

The 2010 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year awards program recognized retailers from across the nation. Several of the regional retail winners are profiled below.



Matt Rubel learned his craft at an early age. The 52-year-old chief of footwear giant Collective Brands Inc., parent to such brands as Payless ShoeSource, Stride Rite and Sperry Top-Sider, was introduced to retail by his parents.


“I worked in their stores growing up, starting at a very young age,” Rubel said. “I learned that I loved customers and their passion for shopping.”


Rubel has remained true to his early vocation. After graduating college in 1979, he started his career at the legendary Bonwit Teller in New York. From there, he went on to hold leadership positions at some of the nation’s most prominent retail brands. From 1999 to 2005, Rubel served as chairman, president and CEO of Cole Haan, a subsidiary of Nike, where he led a multi-year turnaround,

Bridgeview, Ill. -- Rose Paving Co., which provides complete parking-lot management solutions nationwide, has been named a Chicago Tribune Top Workplace for 2010 in the small-sized company category. One hundred companies, organizations, and agencies were honored at an awards ceremony on Nov. 9 hosted by the Chicago Tribune.

The awards, given for measured qualities including company leadership, career opportunities, workplace flexibility, and compensation & benefits were presented to Chicago-area companies for the very first time.

Washington - Amazon.com, Nordstrom and J.C. Penney are just a few of the retailers that made the grade on the list of the top 10 retailers for customer service as selected by shoppers in the sixth annual NRF Foundation/American Express Customers’ Choice survey.

The survey, which asked 9,291 shoppers which retailer provides the best customer service, was conducted by BIGresearch. In alphabetical order, the top 10 retailers for customer service are:

• Amazon.com

• J.C. Penney

Jacksonville, Fla. -- Shopping center owner and developer Regency Centers announced Tuesday it has been ranked in the top quintile of 280 publicly traded companies headquartered in the Southeastern U.S. for its environmental, social, and governance factors and policies. 

Regency received the honor as part of the first annual Southeastern Corporate Sustainability Rankings performed by Boston-based KLD Research and Analytics.