Eclectic Japanese department store Tokyu Hands has been named one of the global finalists in this year’s GIA Awards in Chicago.

Tokyu Hands has 75 stores in Japan and three in Singapore, selling items including fashion and interior goods, but with kitchenwares and other household items as its core. Customers range from teens to seniors.

“Japanese consumers are said to have the harshest eye in the world for quality and design,” observed a spokesperson for the GIA (Global Innovation Awards). “Tokyu Hands’ buyers think deeply about what their customer wants before selecting products. The sales staff are highly skilled and very knowledgeable to meet the demands of customers with severe eyes. That’s a big reason for why many people visit the store.”

Another Japanese homewares chain, The Loft, won a GIA Award last year.

Other finalists from Asia in this year’s awards are Cuccina, a small homewares store in China, and Maissone in Singapore which sells offline and online.

Each national GIA winner is invited to the International Home + Housewares Show in Chicago where the global GIA jury, consisting of four experts representing Asia, Europe and the Americas, plus a rotating group of co-sponsoring trade publication editors from around the world, will select up to five GIA Global Honorees, the winners of the Martin M Pegler Award for Excellence in Visual Merchandising and the GIA Digital Commerce Award for Excellence in Online Retailing.

The winners from each region will be honored at a festive awards dinner on Saturday, March 10, during the 2018 International Home + Housewares Show in Chicago.

For more information about the IHA Global Innovation Awards (gia) program, the co-sponsors, or participating in 2018-2019, contact Piritta Törrö at piritta.torro@inspiredconnection.fi. Additional information on the gia program is also available online at www.housewares.org/show/gia-retail.