IRDC UPDATES

2012 CONFERENCE PREVIEW
IRDC heads to Chicago's North Loop

Mark your calendar for September 5-7, 2012, when the 12th annual IRDC convenes in Chicago, at the Renaissance Downtown Hotel.

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VISUAL MERCHANDISING CHALLENGE
Iron Mechant winners put brand and product first

Emcees Joe Baer of ZenGenius Visual Merchants and Bevan Bloemendaal of The Timberland Co. added some new twists to IRDC’s Iron Merchant VI: Visual Merchandising Challenge, including changing the design brief last-minute and requiring the use of an unusual secret ingredient: water.

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2011 CONFERENCE RECAP
More than 300 creatives gather in San Francisco

Attendance for IRDC 2011 was up 12% over 2010, making it one of the strongest years in the event’s 11-year history. The conference was held September 7-9 at the Parc 55 Wyndham in San Francisco, steps from Union Square, the heart of the city’s retail center.

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RETAILER OF THE YEAR
Panelists announced for Whole Foods session

We announced in early July that Whole Foods Market is the winner of VMSD’s 2011 Peter Glen Retailer of the Year award. The official presentation happens at IRDC on Thursday, September 8, followed by an intriguing session on the role of store design and visual merchandising in the brand’s success.

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Q&A with Target architect Eames Gilmore

As big-box brands such as SuperValu, Target and Walmart are rolling out scaled-down brand extensions—often in urban environments—others such as Kohl’s and Best Buy have announced similar plans for smaller stores.

We’ll delve into this trend at IRDC, with Growing Your Brand Smaller, a panel discussion featuring moderator Joe Bona of CBX and panelists Eames Gilmore of Target, Sharon Lessard of SuperValu and Kevin Ruehle of Walmart. As a preview to the session, Eames Gilmore discusses Target’s approach to smaller-format store design:

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