Jun 21, 2017
GCA Opens Best Bathroom Competition

Garden Centers of America’s (GCA) Best Garden Center Bathroom Awards, now in its seventh year, recognizes IGC retailers whose restrooms contribute to the store’s favorable shopping experience. Independent garden centers are encouraged to submit their garden center bathrooms, including, but not limited to, recent renovations and remodels, for this prestigious juried competition.

The deadline for entries is 5 p.m. EDT, July 5, 2017.

The winner of the top honor, the Gold Award, will receive a plaque and one free registration for next year’s GCA Summer Tour 2018. Other recognitions will include a Silver Award and Awards of Merit. 

Sam Brown, owner of Fiddleheads Garden Center in Dalton, Georgia, displays the store’s Gold Award plaque from last year’s contest right outside the bathrooms, intriguing — and entertaining — his customers. “They are always first amazed that such an award exists,” he says. “Then, they check out the bathrooms and laugh. When they walk out, they tell their friends or family to come see the bathrooms for themselves.”

To enter the competition, garden centers should send several photos of their store bathrooms, saved in jpeg file format, along with a brief paragraph about the bathrooms, the concept behind the designs and their benefits to the garden center. This information, along with the name of the store and key contact, address, phone and e-mail address, should be e-mailed to: bestbathrooms@gardencentersofamerica.com