Hollywood, Fla. (Nov. 25, 2009)—The Association for Retail Environments (A.R.E.) celebrates the fifth anniversary of its Above & Beyond Awards, recognizing industry suppliers who have exceeded their customers' service expectations, and in some cases, made the impossible possible. Unlike A.R.E.'s Design Awards, the A.R.E. Above & Beyond Awards acknowledges the project management and implementation that goes on behind the scenes in prototyping, fine-tuning and rolling out a major store fixturing or visual merchandising project.

"A lot that goes into a finished store goes unnoticed. For the past four years, A.R.E., based on the nominations of grateful retailers, has created one special award to recognize the amazing effort that store fixture suppliers put forth in getting a store built and installed on time, A.R.E.'s Above & Beyond Award," explained A.R.E. Design Awards Committee Chair Mike Haddon, vice president of sales for DCI Marketing.

Retailers are invited to visit www.retailfix.com/awards to complete a nomination form. There is no fee to nominate, and it only takes five minutes to complete the process. Last year A.R.E. received a record number of nominations for the award, and we're hoping to break another record this year. "This is a terrific, no-cost way to say "thank you" to suppliers in a way that is truly meaningful to the companies being recognized," said Dean Rubin, CEO of Rose Displays and committee chair of the A.R.E. retail and member marketing committees that initially developed the award.

Nominations are judged by members of A.R.E.'s Retail Council Executive Committee and judges from the A.R.E. Design Awards and recognize service provided during the 2009 calendar year. The award recipient will be recognized during the A.R.E. Design Awards Presentation at the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas on March 10, 2010, the first day of GlobalShop.

Past winners include Impressions Marketing Group, Lorton, Va. (nominated by Rite-Aid Corp.); Boden Alexander Group, Portland, Ore. (nominated by Bank of America); Custom Surroundings, Valley City, Ohio (nominated by Stride Rite); PIN, Irving, Texas (nominated by Merle Norman Cosmetics).

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About A.R.E.
Members of the Association for Retail Environments are retail environments professionals and proven industry leaders--companies that are well known for excellent craftsmanship, topflight service, and cutting-edge innovation. Member companies offer a full range of products and services for retail environments, and include store fixture suppliers, retail design firms, suppliers of visual merchandising products, and suppliers of materials and equipment for the retail environments industry. Member capabilities include importing, exporting, consolidating, installing, project management, engineering, design, and more.