U.S. Retail Industry Gold Medal NRF Annual Award Winners 2000-2012

Each year one U.S. retail industry company out of all the public and privately held multi-unit retail chains is recognized for the excellence of its leader and its retail accomplishments at the National Retail Federation's annual convention.

The criteria that the NRF uses to choose its Gold Medal Award winners is not specifically published, and the judging process and judging panel are not generally offered as public knowledge either. The general criteria stated for retail Gold Medal Award winners is that they demonstrate a reputation for excellence and make a change to the retail industry.

Since there is no peer or customer voting for the Gold Medal Award winners, those who are judging the "excellence" and "change" may have political agendas in mind as they are making their decisions. In reviewing the complete list of NRF Gold Medal Award winners, it is difficult to understand how each retail leader or company was singled out for recognition, in relations to what was happening in the retail industry as a whole and with other retail chains in particular in the year that the award winners were chosen.

The NRF Gold Medal Awards seem to be more "lifetime achievement" type of awards, rather than specific performance-related awards. For instance, when Mike Jeffries accepted the Gold Medal Award at the 2009 NRF Convention, Abercrombie and Fitch was in the middle of a stunning downturn, posting double-digit same store sales losses for more than 12 consecutive months, largely due to Jeffries refusal to respond to the Great Recession with promotional pricing.

How Abercrombie and Fitch exemplified "excellence" to the NRF is somewhat of a mystery. It also worth noting that of the Gold Medal Award winners recognized in the past decade, Liz Claiborne closed all 87 of its outlet stores in 2010, Starbucks closed more than 1,000 stores between 2008 and 2009, and J.Crew will be sold to a private equity firm in 2011.

This is a list of the U.S. retail companies and leaders which have received the NRF Gold Medal Award in the past decade - for the years 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2012. The list is arranged by year, with the most recent year first. The Gold Medal Awards are presented at the NRF's annual convention, which is generally held in January each year.

2012 Gold Medal Award
Jeff Bezos, Founder and CEO
Amazon.com

2011 Gold Medal Award
Kim Tindell, Chairman and CEO
The Container Store

2010 Gold Medal Award
Roger Farah, President and COO
Polo Ralph Lauren

2009 Gold Medal Award
Mike Jeffries, Chairman and CEO
Abercrombie & Fitch

2008 Gold Medal Award
Terry Lundgren, Chairman and CEO
Macy's

2007 Gold Medal Award
Millard Drexler, Chairman and CEO
J. Crew Group, Inc.

2006 Gold Medal Award
Paul, R. Charron, Chairman and CEO
Liz Claiborne, Inc.

2005 Gold Medal Award
Howard Schultz, Chairman and Chief Global Strategist
Starbucks Corp.

2004 Gold Medal Award
Burt Tansky, President and CEO
Neiman Marcus Group

2003 Gold Medal Award
M. Farooq Kathwari, President and CEO
Ethan Allen

2001 Gold Medal Award
Robert Ulrich, Chairman and CEO
Target Corp.

2000 Gold Medal Award
Gordon Segal, Founder
Crate and Barrel

• U.S. Retail Innovator of the Year Award Winners 2000 - 2010
  
  
• International Retailer of the Year Award Winners 2000 - 2010
  
  
• U.S. Retail Silver Plaque Award Winners 2000 - 2010
  
  
• National Retail Federation (NRF) Website

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