Smith Optics was awards the REI 2009 vendor Partner of the Year award at Outdoor Retailer Winter Market 2010. The annual awards program, established in 1993, recognizes three key vendors and one overall vendor for efforts that have built a strategic and successful relationship with REI. The co-op’s three merchandising divisions camp/travel, actionsports and outdoorwear nominate companies, then REI retail employees vote on the slate of nominees to determine winners.
“Smith Optics’ selection as REI’s 2009 Vendor Partner of the Year was a difficult choice to make because of the quality of all our top vendors,” said Angela Owen, REI’s vice president of Merchandising. “However, Smith stood out for its commitment to our partnership, shared values, product inspiration and innovation, and outstanding financial results in an extraordinarily challenging year. Smith excelled as a true partner in every sense of the word making exceptional efforts to listen and engage with us so they truly understand REI and our members’ needs.”
The Camp/Travel winner was Marmot Mountain while the Action Sports winner was Planet Bike. The winner in the Outdoorwear category was Teva.
Other nominees for 2009 also included: B.O.B Trailers, Inc., Deuter USA, Evolv Sports & Designs, Garmin International, GSI Outdoors, Merrell, Patagonia, Sea To Summit USA, Shimano American Corporation, SmartWool, and The North Face.
Past recipients of the REI Vendor Partner of the Year Award include Atlas Snowshoe (1999), Black Diamond Equipment (1994, 2006) and Bell Sports (1997).
