Jack Wolfskin has won this year’s “Retail Awards” for best performance from ECE, the large German-based international operator of shopping centers, which has some 10,000 tenants in 97 malls all over Europe. A six-member jury chose Jack Wolfskin but ECE officials could not explain why, except for the fact that it is the biggest franchisor in the sporting goods sector. The brand has 146 single-brand stores in Germany, of which only four are company-owned. It also has 14 franchises in Austria, seven in Austria, three in Belgium, three in Romania and one each in the U.K., Poland, the Ukraine and the Czech Republic, plus dedicated areas in more than 90 stores in 12 countries including 28 in Japan and 17 in China. As already reported in SGI Europe, the company’s sales grew last year by almost 21 percent to €156.3 million in Europe, with growth of 19 percent in Germany.
