Service. It's what it all comes down to. When Footwear Insight launched the Gold Medal Service
Awards in 2015, we wanted to identify – and reward – the independent stores that elevate service to an
art form. And the good news is we found them, and they are thriving.
To create the list, we went wide. More than 120 shops were nominated by themselves or their ven-
dor partners. (For this award, independently owned shoe stores and regional chains in the U.S. with a
significant shoe business were eligible.) After evaluation, 124 were mystery shopped by Franklin Retail
Solutions, a leading retail consultant firm. Shopped stores were rated on a list of criteria (to see the cri-
teria, see page 28). Stores scoring a 70 or above were named Gold Medal Service Award winners. For
2018, four stores scored perfect 100s – or above, thanks to the bonus questions! – and were named
the Waldlaufer Waldy Award winners for the year: Check them out on the facing page.
If you're a retailer and want to know if your store was shopped, reach out to us. And if you're a retailer
on this list who wants to know more about your score send us a note and we'll share.
And one note for list aspirants: After we tabulated the results, we realized that fully a dozen stores
have made the list every year since its inauguration. If you aren't on the list and want to be, check
out page 30: We polled our four-peat winners and got the techniques, straight from the source, on
how they keep excelling year after year.
Interested in nominating a shop you love — or your own shop — for 2019?
Email us at nominations@goldmedalserviceawards.com
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