Click the play button for a 3 minute message from Rick.

In 1998, Rick Segel presented an idea to Jon Hurst, the President of the Retailers Association of Massachusetts, a simple idea to honor the unsung heroes in retailing in the state of Massachusetts. Little did we know that the simple awards program would have such far reaching effects throughout the worldwide retail community. In the last 15 years, we have honored 87 individual businesses in the categories of: Rookie of the Year, Advertising and Promotion, Creative Concepts in Retailing, Community Service, the Retailer of the Year and on rare occasions will induct retailers into the Massachusetts Retailers Hall of Fame.

The awards are judged not on financial strength but rather the creativity of the idea. The goal is not to just honor retailers, but to share their ideas and concepts to strengthen all retailers.

Rick Segel has taken these ideas and shares them through his speeches, articles and books with the rest of the world. Rick considers this Awards Program one of his greatest professional and personal accomplishments of his life. As he puts it, “there is no greater joy than to present a retailer an award for efforts which might normally be overlooked. Below we have compiled the highlights of some of the awards programs.