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Shopping Centers Today -> June 2001
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AND THE WINNER IS…
Cadillac Fairview honors innovative retailers
By Susan Thorne
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| Brian Muzyk, Cadillac Fairview's executive vice president and COO, presents the Retail Service Excellence award to Margot Franssen, president of The Body Shop Canada. |
Deep down, most shopping center landlords realize that retailers are the lifeblood of their operations. But how often do they say so? One leading Canadian developer is making certain this message is heard by holding an annual award for retail innovation complete with a substantial cash prize.
The Cadillac Fairview Corp.’s Achievement in Retail Concepts (ARC) Awards were inaugurated in 1998 to spotlight and encourage innovative new retail players in Canada.
The company’s executive vice president and COO, Brian Muzyk, said the awards originated from a brainstorming session held by Cadillac Fairview executives five years ago. "We were sitting around talking about ways to give something back to retailers.
"Obviously the key driver of our business is new tenants, and we felt it was important to support innovation and excellence in retail by recognizing some of the up-and-coming new companies."
While retail trade federations often honor the achievements of their members, it is novel for a landlord to do so; Muzyk said he is doesn’t know of any comparable awards given by shopping center developers.
At this year’s March 8 gala in Toronto, Campbell McDougall, owner of groundbreaking Vancouver lifestyle retailer bruce (see story below), stepped onstage to receive the ARC winner’s statuette and a $50,000 cash prize on behalf of his trendsetting "anti-department store," which opened its doors last summer. bruce, which uses a lowercase "b" in its name, offers a selection of apparel, housewares and gifts for the urban modernist consumer, presented in a two-level store with a cafe/lounge on the upper story.
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The new concept was chosen from a field of 72 entries on the basis of four criteria: positioning and marketing (20%); merchandising (25%); originality of concept and design (35%); measures of success (15%); and quality of submission (5%). The three other finalists were Atom and Eve, a children’s shoe store, Toronto; The Art of Working, a one-stop shop for the home office in Oakville, Ontario; and Metalsmiths, Edmonton-based purveyors of original Canadian jewelry.
The self-nominated contest entrants had to be retailers operating in Canada, but competition was not restricted to Cadillac Fairview tenants or even to shopping center retail stores.
A new Retail Service Excellence Award was added for the first time this year to honor outstanding customer service, as measured by a mystery shopper who made 6,000 visits to stores in 41 Cadillac Fairview shopping centers to rate the shopping experience in each.
The inaugural award went to beauty products retailer The Body Shop Canada, which has 125 stores in nine provinces. Margot Franssen, company president, said she is usually very skeptical about retail awards, but has positive feelings about the Cadillac Fairview citation.
"This is one of the first times that a shopping center developer has recognized the importance of customer service, and they did it sincerely and with extensive research," she said. Franssen said she thinks the emphasis on service is appropriate, too. "Customer service is the vital ingredient of retail. Everything else — design, graphics, product — is secondary," she asserted.
Although retailers are the main beneficiaries of the award effort, there are benefits for Cadillac Fairview, too, Muzyk said. "Giving the awards sets us apart from the pack," he noted. Through the ARC program, Cadillac becomes acquainted with some up-and-coming retail leaders of tomorrow while they are in the early incubation phase. "For example, Jugo Juice, a high-end health drinks retailer which won last year’s big prize, has become a mall-based concept and is now in some Cadillac Fairview malls," Muzyk pointed out. As well, the judging process offers an opportunity for Cadillac Fairview to get to know some retail executives better.
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| Shown during the awards presentation are, from left, Brian Muzyk, Cadillac Fairview executive vice president and COO; 2001 ARC Judge George Kolber, CEO of Value City; and Lora Tisi, president of American Eagle Outfitters, Canada. |
This year’s panel of judges was made up of Joey Basmaji, president of Jacob, a Montréal-based apparel retail chain; George Kolber, CEO of the Value City off-price department store chain; and John Forzani, president and CEO of The Forzani Group, Calgary, a sporting-goods retailer.
Finally, Muzyk maintained that acknowledging the importance of the retailer’s role strengthens Cadillac’s performance. "We know who our customer is — the retailer — and this makes us more effective." Feedback from retailers shows that they appreciate the recognition, he indicated.
Randy Scotland, vice president of communications and public relations for the Retail Council of Canada, Toronto, applauds the initiative by Cadillac Fairview. Scotland, who attended the presentation ceremony, said the ARCs are a good fit with the Retail Council’s own Excellence in Retail Awards, which are given to more experienced retailers. Giving such awards is a useful exercise, he said.
’’Retailers learn by example from their peers in the industry. Awards provide that example — they show that it can be done. They also show the rest of the community that retail is an exciting business involving innovative thinking," Scotland said.
The number of competing entries for the ARCs has been climbing each year, and Muzyk hopes the awards’ profile will rise as well.
"We want to be thought of as the Academy Awards of retail," he said.
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