"Blue Water Bridge snaps up top Frontier award in huge boost for Canadian border trade"
26 October 2003:  The Moodie Report
INTERNATIONAL. 
Canadian border store retailer The Blue Water Bridge Duty Free Shop was the surprise but acclaimed winner of the prestigious Frontier Airport/Land-based Retailer of the Year award announced at a ceremony last night in Cannes.....
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"Duty Free wins top industry honours"
3 November 2003: Brian Holt - Sarnia Observer
The Blue Water Bridge Duty Free Shop sits on top of the Duty Free retailing world today. The retailing operation at the foot of the Blue Water bridge has received the world-wide Duty Free industry's highest accolade – the Frontier Awards Airport / Land-Based Retailer of the Year Award. "We can honestly tell anyone we're the best Duty Free Shop in the world, as judged by our peers," said Blue Water Duty Free Shop Operations Manager Gerard Lee.
Members of the Lee family, who own the local Duty Free Shop, attended the Tax Free World Association's annual exhibition show in Cannes, France, where the Frontier Awards were presented at an October 25 dinner.
Billed as the "Travel Retail Oscars," the Frontier Awards are the top recognition available in the travel retail industry, said Lee.
The award to the Blue Water Bridge Duty Free Shop was the first for any land based border operation in the history of the competition. Awards have always gone to big airport Duty Free operations in the past. It was also a first for any Duty Free Shop operation in Canada.
The Blue Water Bridge Duty Free Shop beat out stiff competition from some of the world's biggest Duty Free retailers, including Abu Dhabi Duty Free, Bahrain Duty Free, Dubai Duty Free and Hong Kong International Airport. The Bahrain and Dubai Duty Free's tied for second place.
"For an operation like ours, it's unprecedented," said Lee.
"It was a surprise and a real honour for us as a family and for our store," said Blue Water Bridge Duty Free Shop owner Garvin Lee.
It's also "an important first for Canada, putting Canadian Duty Free operations on the world stage and showing that Canada can compete with the big operators", he said.
Gerard Lee prepared an awards submission that was essentially like a business plan, he said. the awards are judged by an international panel of six people form the travel retail industry who score submissions based on criteria such as business performance, merchandising, marketing and customer service.
At the awards ceremony, the judging panel recognized the Blue Water Bridge Duty Free Shop for "turning browsers into buyers" and making the Shop a "must stop" for travellers.
When they made marketing plans for this year, they didn't anticipate events like SARS and mad cow disease and their impact on travel to Canada said Gerard Lee. However, the Blue Water Bridge Duty Free Shop didn't back off or diminish its efforts, instead becoming even more aggressive with its internal and external marketing he said.
"Despite the difficult year for travel and tourism in 2003, we have remained steadfast and dedicated to our retail efforts and programs."
Gerard Lee credited staff members for their efforts in making the business successful.
"Every one of our staff members was involved in making this award come true for us."
The award was the second recognition the the Blue Water Bridge Duty Free Shop at the Frontier Awards. The operation finished runner up for the best marketing campaign in the 2002 awards.
In the spring of 2002, the Blue Water Bridge Duty Free Shop opened a new and much larger store at the foot of the Blue Water Bridge featuring a department store concept with more customer services, increased product selection and expanded product display areas.