Hawaiin boutique owner wins top prize in NRF's 'This is Retail' contest

WASHINGTON — Tanna Dang, a boutique owner in Honolulu, Hawaii was awarded the top $25,000 prize in the National Retail Federation’s inaugural “This is Retail” video contest. Florida’s Kim Williams of The Polka Dot press came in second place and will take home $15,000 and Illinois’ Susan Kaufman will take home $10,000 for third place. Nearly 1 million votes were cast by the public through NRF’s Retail Means Jobs website to choose the contest winners.



“These entrepreneurs have an incredible passion for retail and their communities, which came through in their videos and was evident during the voting process,” said NRF president and CEO Matthew Shay. “We all love the stories the winners have shared with us, and it’s incredible to think there are millions of other retail employees just like Tanna, Kim, Susan and Jim across America, working hard to provide for their families, give back to their communities, and serve their customers every day.”



The award winners were in attendance at NRF’s Washington Leadership Conference at the Gaylord National Harbor this morning when Terry Lundgren, Macy’s chairman, CEO and president, and chairman of the NRF board of directors, and NRF president and CEO Matthew Shay presented each with their checks. Bill Brand, EV{ programming, marketing and business development at HSN and also one of the judges that selected the initial top 20 finalists, announced the winners.



Lundgren and Shay also presented Jim Adams of Falls Road Running Store in Baltimore with the Judge’s Choice Award. Jim’s video on how retail powers the economy received the highest score from the original panel of judges who selected the top 20 finalists in March.



To learn more about all of the video finalists, visit retailmeansjobs.com/thisisretail/library.