Staff Report
Dubai: The 2017 Images RetailME Awards, which recognise Middle East’s best retailers, were presented at a gala ceremony celebrated at the prestigious One and Only Royal Mirage Dubai, UAE, with more than 400 industry leaders in attendance.
The awards recognise the top performing retailers and retail practices every year and reward excellence across retail categories. The Images RetailME Awards ceremony is among the most prestigious event of its kind in the date of Middle East retail calendar.
Among the winners in 29 diverse categories were; The Pet Shop for the most admired Rising Star Retailer of the Year, Al Tayer Insignia for the most admired Middle East Retailer of the Year, and the most admired Retail Personality of the year was won by Mohamed Alabbar – Chairman, Emaar Properties and Malls, Founder, Noon.
In the Consumer Electronics category E-city took the award, Dubai Aquarium and Underwater Zoo in the Leisure and entertainment (FEC/Theme Parks) category, Almaya in the Supermarket/Hypermarket category, Life Pharmacy under Pharmacy and Healthcare category, Marina Home Interiors in the Home and Housewares category, Tim Hortons under food service (QSR), and Suhad Ghanem, Life Pharmacy won an award for the most admired store Manager of the Year.
The RetailME Awards gala evening was presented by Dubai’s leading anchor Enjy Kiwan. Rayisa Shcherbakova and Serik Iskakov set the mood to the awards night with their mystic music. A mesmerizing Ring acrobat performance by Olga Baigacheva and standup comedian Artemis Kyriacou entertained the audience with his witty humour.
Amitabh Taneja Chairman of the Images Group said, “We received an overwhelming response with scores of entries this year. We sincerely thank every member of our esteemed jury for sparing the time and effort to evaluate these submissions and compile the results.”
“A big thanks to all our partners supporting this event – Cityland Mall, Hamat Property Co., Zebra, Zoom, Adapty, Al Araimi Boulevard, Dalma Mall, Genetec, LP Flex, Philips, Qwikcilver, SSI Schafer, Wanzl, The Woolmark company, and Xpandretail, Crowe Horwath International (audit partner); gia (awards partner).”
“We are grateful to all the participants and congratulate all the nominees and
finally applaud all the winners.”
The submissions were evaluated and judged by a jury comprising of an Independent Jury Panel; Jerzy Osika Owner and CEO Promedia, Mohammad Alawi, Chairman of Shopping Malls Committee Jeddah Chamber KSA, Roy Higgs, Founder Emeritus DDG.
For the industry-nominated jury awards, the group conducted a survey covering more than 50 of the top regional shopping malls to short-list the best performing retailers at their malls and elsewhere. The names emerging from the survey were subsequently vetted by a panel of veterans and experts from the shopping Mall industry that included; Brad Merchant Director of retail asset management Aldar Properties PJSC, Christian Wistrom, General Manager –leasing GLA Management, Mohammed Galal, President and CEO Tasweeq Shopping Malls Egypt.
The process helped nominate more than 250 of the top performing brands under 29 categories.
