Retail Stores of the Year

Chain Store Age celebrates the winners of its 27th annual store design competition, which attracted entries from around the world. Luxury department store company Neiman Marcus was honored as the best overall concept, Retail Store of the Year, for its Atlanta showplace.

In addition, there were 33 first-place awards and 12 honorable-mention awards in the various categories, along with two special awards.

The judges for this year’s competition were Steven Derwoed, principal, RYA Design Consultancy, New York City; Ali Van Horn, principal, Ali B Designs, Hunter, N.Y.; Vincent Iacobellis, principal, Callison, New York City; Michael LeFande, principal, SBLM Architects, New York City; Sue Nicgorski, director, T.L. Martin & Associates, Wayne, N.J.; and Glenn Trunley, VP of design, Loehmann’s, Glen Ridge, N.J. (Judges whose firms submitted entries did not vote in the respective category.)

All of the winning projects are profiled in this special section. All received first-place awards except where noted. Additional photos, and a list of the key resources and project personnel for each project, can be viewed at www.chainstoreage.com.