YOUR CREATIVITY DESERVES SOME HARDWARE. It took countless late nights and a sea of coffee to make your store a reality. Now it's time to earn a little recognition with INSTORE's America's Coolest Stores contest. We're looking for independent jewelry retailers with unique stores and clever business ideas. We'll feature the top 10 — five big, five small — in the August issue of INSTORE. Be one of them.

CLICK HERE TO ENTER






AMERICA'S COOLEST STORES 2012
INSTRUCTIONS AND RULES


QUESTIONS? coolstores@instoremag.com



ELIGIBILITY
Retail jewelry stores in North America and the Caribbean that have not been previous America's Coolest Stores winners (those stores featured in the August issue of INSTORE magazine). Previous winners may enter other store locations, and they may enter if their winning location has been substantially renovated, modified or expanded since being featured in INSTORE.

Entries will be divided into two categories based on the stores' number of full-time employees, not including the owner(s), once all entries have been submitted and verified by the staff of INSTORE. Big Cool and Small Cool divisions will be determined once all the entries have been submitted and verified.

TO ENTER
Visit http://americascooleststores.com/signup.html and create an account under Signup. Doing so will allow you to save a draft of your entry and update it later as needed.

(To access your entry after creating an account, use your email address and password under Login.)

In order to be considered for the competition, entrants must complete all required fields in the entry form (general information, online presence and store stats) and submit the following materials:

1. Story:
  • Store history / bio. No more than 500 words.
  • What's cool about your store? No more than 500 words.
  • What's the most important lesson you've learned as a retailer? No more than 250 words.
  • Three fun facts about your store. No more than 250 words.
  • One out-of-the-box idea you've implemented this past year. No more than 250 words.


    • 2. 3-12 images of the store's exterior. (JPEG files only, 900K-2MB each in size.)

    3. 6-12 images of the store's interior AND ONE IMAGE OF YOUR STORE'S OWNER(S). (JPEG files only, 900K-2MB each in size.)

    4. Marketing samples - 3-12 of any form: print, radio, billboards, TV, stationary and collateral. (Image files should be JPEG or PDF format, under 2MB each in size. Audio and video files should be MPEG3 or 4, or SWF (Flash) files under 10MB each in size.) Until April 15, 2012, you may log in to edit your entry by going to americascooleststore.com and clicking on "LOGIN." If you forget your password, click on the link in the "LOGIN" page to request it.

    JUDGING METHODOLOGY
    Step 1:
    From all initial entries, finalists in each division will be selected by INSTORE's editors.

    Step 2:
    Our panel of industry-expert judges will be divided between the two divisions and will rate each finalist from 0-100 in six categories: story, exterior appearance, interior appearance, advertising and marketing, store website and overall individuality.

    Step 3:
    Total scores are calculated weighting the categories according to importance: story 50 percent, exterior 75 percent, interior 100 percent, advertising 50 percent, website 25 percent and individuality 100 percent. The top five stores in each category are then determined.



    QUESTIONS? coolstores@instoremag.com