Last week Berlin’s concept store Voo was honored with the first Super Store Award hosted by London-based e-commerce hub Farfetch.com. The competition, which is planned to be continued on a yearly basis, aims to showcase and reward the entrepreneurial spirit of young, independent fashion boutiques worldwide. With a mission to unearth undiscovered stores and bring their unique offerings to a wider style-aware audience, the initiative compliments the overall vision of farfetch.com and its expanding roster of progressive independent boutiques.

After enlisting the insider knowledge and recommendations from a panel of tastemakers from a variety of creative disciplines, a selection of finalists including Merci in Paris and Primitive in London were put to the public vote via the brand’s social media channels. Farfetch.com founder Jose Neves commented, “I am delighted this first award went to Voo. We are proud to be able to nurture such a new talent and look forward to giving them an online platform on which to thrive.”

The actual award was presented by Susanne Tide Frater and Paul Brine who are both longtime veterans of retail. Frater, strategy director at Farfetch.com, previously served as head of creative direction at Selfridges and later Harrods. Brine, who acts as chief marketing officer at Farfetch.com, comes from Harvey Nichols where he worked as their e-commerce manager. “What we love in retail, is what we see at Voo – it’s about the whole retail experience, the concept, the set up, etc. As the internet world feels a bit cold sometimes we wanted to bring the online experience into the real world and bring it back to life,” Brine and Frater both said. “To see that we can connect with our customers and create a real link to our global community is great. The internet world is really complex and a real challenge. We resisted for a long time, but the biggest positive surprise was that with the right ingredients it is as creative and exciting as offline - just different.”

So far, Farfetch.com reports about 23% US customers and 14% from the UK while Germany, Australia and Brazil account for about 10% of overall customers. With over 100 boutiques already part of the Farfetch.com network, Voo will now join the community on a year’s fee free of contract. Reaching a global audience of online shoppers who appreciate cutting edge style and designer collections, the exposure will provide a far-reaching platform for Voo and connect them with Farfetch.com’s already vast community.

“Being nominated alongside these amazing boutiques was really exciting for us,” Herbert Hofmann, creative director and buyer at Voo said. “To be chosen as the winner of this award by the Farfetch.com customers and global tastemakers makes us very proud and winning this support will make it possible to try new things and support young designers and creative people in whom we strongly believe.”