IHA News Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Contact: Deborah A.Teschke
Manager, Media Relations & Communications
847-692-0110

GIA WHIZ! INTERNATIONAL FOCUS LIGHTS UP INNOVATIVE GLOBAL RETAILERS

New Global Crossroads Expo Features Pavilions From Around the World

ROSEMONT, Ill. (January 2006)—The world’s most creative retailers will strut their stuff at the 2006 International Home & Housewares Show in a competition for the leading global award in housewares retailing.

Now in its six year, the Global Innovator Award (gia) program has become a sort of Academy Awards show for excited retailers who gain important recognition for their retail strategies and enticing displays. Last year’s honorees came from Argentina, Chile, Finland, Liechtenstein, New Zealand and Turkey, among other countries, bringing a true international flavor to the world’s foremost housewares marketplace.

The program is sponsored by the International Housewares Association, which owns and operates the International Home & Housewares Show. Industry trade publications from around the globe sponsor national gia programs in their regions.

In 2006, 24 global housewares retailers will be recognized for their excellence and merchandising savvy. Visitors to the Show can absorb their lessons at the gia Showcase in the Level 3 Lobby of the Lakeside Center, where visuals of the retailers’ award-winning efforts will be on display. All the national winners also will be honored at an invitation-only dinner ceremony on Sunday, March 12. During the ceremony, up to five retailers will be further recognized as global honorees based on the deliberations of a distinguished panel of international retail experts. In addition to the awards dinner and showcase, the winners will further be honored with banners spanning the Grand Concourse Walkway between the North/South buildings and Lakeside Center.

The gia competition has been so well-received that it has led to an extension of the program this year in the form of the new gia World, an award created to honor multi-national retailing excellence in housewares and home furnishings. The new award will honor one global retailer for its contributions to home goods retailing across national borders.

Co-sponsored by IHA and Euromonitor International, (EI) the gia World competition winners are selected by EI’s global retail intelligence and strategic market analysis, which it culls from a network of more than 600 retail analysts in 72 countries. Selection criteria include record of operation, depth of product selection, retail business innovation and corporate social responsibility. A panel of global retail experts will review the candidates identified by EI.

The gia World honoree will be recognized during the educational seminar Sunday, March 12 at 7:30 a.m. in Room S100/Grand Ballroom, South Building. EI’s Matthew Stych will present a program on “Defining Success in Global Retailing: Responding to Consumer Lifestyle Changes.”

Global Crossroads Expo Highlights Show’s International Exhibitors
An innovative new destination at the Show, the Global Crossroads Expo will feature lifestyle exhibits and international exhibitors in one location, including pavilions from China, Hong Kong, Malaysia, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and Turkey.

Located in the North Building, Global Crossroads reflects the growing representation of international exhibitors at the Show and the huge influence of global design and innovation. The entrance to the expo is the Global Gateway, where Show attendees will find a Buyers Club, a café, a lounge area for exhibitors and attendees who need to connect to the Internet, the International Trade Fair & Publications Exhibit and the Country Lifestyle Exhibits from Brazil, Korea, India and Turkey.

Further information about the gia program and Global Crossroads, is available at www.housewares.org.