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s &OOTWEAR )NSIGHT ^ 3EPTEMBER/CTOBER FOOTWEARINSIGHTCOM Gold Medal Service Awards 2017 Footwear Insight's exclusive ratings of the top sit-and-fit retailers in America. A t Footwear Insight, we believe that good service is the most powerful silver bullet retailers have against competition from the Internet. E-tailers can offer sharp prices, the convenience of shopping at any time of day and free ship- ping and returns. But no computer or mobile shopping experience can offer a knowledgeable associate who can fit and recommend the perfect shoe and close the transaction with a smile. To determine the stores who are worthy of Gold Medal Recognition, we enlisted the help of top independent retailers who helped develop mystery shopping criteria that we used to evaluate stores. The actual mystery shop- ping was performed by Franklin Retail Solutions, the leading provider of in-store merchandising, marketing and information solutions for the active lifestyle retail category. All independently owned shoe stores and regional chains that have a significant shoe business were eligible for Gold Medal Awards. National chains are not eligible. Running and sport specialty stores were not eligible. The Gold Medal Process started nearly one year ago with nominations from Footwear Insight's audience. We received nominations and evaluated more than 120 stores. The stores were rated on 20 separate criteria. The criteria and scoring system appears on page 30. The mystery shopping evaluations took place in July of this year and included the purchase of a pair of shoes. Our goal is to be fully transparent in this process. Any store that would like to know if they were nominated can contact us. For any store that was shopped, we will share the results of their mystery shopping evaluation. Of the more than 120 stores that were evaluated, 56 scored 80 points or above and earned Gold Medal Service designation. All winning stores received a plaque and window stickers commemorating their honor. These stores will also receive a press release so they can pro- mote the recognition on social media and in their respective hometowns. O Any store with questions about the process or how they can participate in The Gold Medal Awards for 2018 should contact Mark Sullivan at msullivan@formula4media.com HONOREES