Gourmet Catalog & Buying Group, the leading and original buying group in the housewares industry, has announce its seventh annual Best Vendor Award winners.
“The GC Best Vendor Awards are our way of recognizing and showing appreciation for the vendor members’ hard work and dedication toward the success of small independent retailers,” said Janis Johnson, founder and president of Gourmet Catalog (GC). “Gourmet Catalog is about connecting stores with vendors and these awards are a great representation of that – stores choosing vendors they feel did an outstanding job. The award is a huge thank-you for their strong loyalty and commitment.”
Gourmet Catalog store members began the voting process for the Best Vendor Awards as part of Gourmet Catalog’s Start the Year Member Conference, held during the January International Gift & Home Market in Atlanta. Each store member votes for the Best Gourmet Catalog Vendor in seven categories. The Best Overall Vendor is determined by the top number of votes across all categories.
The following are this year’s winner:
- Best Shipping: RSVP
- Best In-Stock: RSVP
- Most Creative Program: Le Creuset
- Best In-Store Signage: Le Creuset
- Best In-Store Fixtures/Display: Nespresso
- Best Customer Service: RSVP
- Most Innovative Product: Lékué for “The Citrus Sprayer”
- Best Vendor Overall: RSVP
- Lifetime Achievement: Harold Import Co. (HIC)
GC and its members continue to recognize the impact that HIC has had on their businesses. Last year, GC presented its first Lifetime Achievement award to Harold Import Co. After decades of service to GC members and years of winning several of the Best Vendor Awards categories, including Overall Best Vendor, Gourmet Catalog felt it was time to recognize their exceptional performance. “HIC has been with GC since its beginning in 1981, and it has always been an honor to work with them,” said Johnson. “We appreciate their continuous commitment to our store members and proudly present them with this award. We celebrate again this year the dedication that HIC has to GC store members and are elated to remember their ‘Lifetime Achievement.’”
In appreciation, the RSVP team said: “From our beginning in 1984, our mission statement has been to offer quality products at reasonable prices to specialty stores nationwide while offering exceptional customer service. We consider our customers our partners and part of our team, and we are so very honored to receive these gifts of recognition from Gourmet Catalog.”
“We greatly value our partnership with Gourmet Catalog and their independent retail members,” said Boyd Beasley of Le Creuset. “At Le Creuset, we strive to deliver best-in-class signage, programs and most importantly products that inspire our Gourmet Catalog member partners and their consumers.”
Allison Mansueto of Nespresso North America said: “We are very excited to have our store displays recognized by Gourmet Catalog members. We will continue to work to meet (and hopefully exceed) expectations in the future!”
Lékué’s Tara Steffen said: “We’re thrilled to have been selected as a vendor of the year by the Gourmet Catalog & Buying Group, an organization that has partnered with us to build greater brand awareness and a strong presence in the specialty market in the United States. Gourmet Catalog has helped make Lékué successful and the independent stores successful. A win-win for all of us.”
Celebrating its 33rd anniversary this year, Gourmet Catalog works to ensure the success of independent retailers with a variety of programs and services, including discounts provided by nearly 200 vendor members to more than 320 member store locations.
Caption: Shown from left to right: Boyd Beasley, Le Creuset, and Janis Johnson, Gourmet Catalog & Buying Group.
