EDENS Announces Finalists For Inaugural Retail Challenge

NEW YORK, Jan. 29, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- EDENS, one of the nation's largest retail real estate developers, announced today the finalists for the first EDENS Retail Challenge.  The winner will be announced during the smART: The Art of Retail Conference, which will take place February 3, 4 & 5, 2013, at the Gansevoort Park Avenue Hotel in New York City.

The EDENS Retail Challenge is a nationwide competition seeking the most innovative entrepreneurs and the next, best retail concept.  A qualified panel of judges has chosen the top three retail concepts from around the country to compete at Nationals on February 3^rd, in New York City.  All teams that make it to the finals in New York will have received $3,500.  The overall winner of the EDENS Retail Challenge will win an additional $10,000 and the chance to bring their retail concept to life.

EDENS Retail Challenge Finalists are:

• Aroma (Babson College, Boston) – a specialty retailer of premium live roast, whole-bean coffee, which will be roasted in-store, live in front of the consumer.  An educational, in-person coffee experience, which will include home brewing equipment and wares, limited prepared coffee beverages and gift merchandise.
• FUNdamental Play (The George Washington University, DC) – enhancing child development through interactive and educational play experiences in an effort to stimulate young minds to reach new heights of imagination, creativity and intellectual development.
• FOLLAIN (Babson College, Boston) – a skincare retail concept, the first and only brick-and-mortar source for healthy, effective and local skincare.

The EDENS Retail Challenge is being sponsored in conjunction with smART: The Art of Retail Conference.  smART will bring together a host of influencers in the retail world, and was created as a vehicle by which small business owners from around the country could learn from some of the most innovative, creative and successful business minds in the industry today.

For more information on the EDENS Retail Challenge, please visit www.edenssmartretail.com/challenge.  For more information on EDENS, please visit www.edens.com.

About EDENS:
EDENS develops, owns and operates community building centers in primary markets throughout the East Coast. Focusing on innovative development and redevelopment together with key acquisitions in urban areas, the Company has built an institutional-quality portfolio of 111 retail centers. EDENS has Regional Headquarters in Boston, New York, Washington D.C., Atlanta, Miami and Columbia, SC. For additional information about the Company and its retail real estate portfolio, please visit www.edens.com.

SOURCE EDENS