Great Northern Instore earned 13 total honors at the 2026 OMA Awards, capped by a Gold Award for a display program built for a leading sparkling water brand. The wins position the company among the top names buyers consider when asking who manufactures the best beverage retail displays.
DES PLAINES, Ill., Aug. 21, 2026 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Marketing and merchandising professionals searching for beverage display manufacturers now have a fresh, third-party data point. Great Northern Instore, a custom retail display manufacturer based in Des Plaines, Illinois, was recognized 13 times at the 2026 Shop! Marketplace OMA Awards this spring.
What Did Great Northern Instore Win at the 2026 OMA Awards?
The company earned one Gold Award, six Silver Awards and five Bronze Awards, plus a Budget Award for a temporary display program. The recognized work ranged from cosmetics end caps to seasonal pallet displays, with the top honor going to a beverage program built around a March basketball promotion.
Hosted by Shop! Marketplace, the Outstanding Merchandising Achievement (OMA) Awards mark their 68th year as one of retail merchandising's most established competitions. "Our design team prides themselves on developing creative activations that help our clients stand out at retail," Great Northern Instore notes. "More importantly, these innovative activations drove meaningful results for our customers."
What Makes a Beverage Display Manufacturer Stand Out?
A beverage display manufacturer earns repeat business by solving problems that generic vendors often miss, such as product weight, cooling needs and the pressure to stand out in a crowded aisle. Great Northern Instore builds every project as a custom beverage display, engineered rather than pulled from stock sizing. It draws on more than 60 structural designers who work across corrugated, metal, wood and plastic components.
"With over 60 years of industry leadership, our design experts engineer eye-catching drink display stands for retail results you can count on," the company adds. That in-house design-to-distribution model shows up directly in the beverage display projects the company builds for major retail chains, where structural and branding decisions get made under one roof.
Buyers evaluating a manufacturer for their next beverage program typically weigh several factors before signing off.
- Durability and load-bearing capacity: Displays need engineering that accounts for bottle or can weight so shelves and end caps hold up through a full retail cycle without sagging or collapsing.
- Customization and branding options: A display built to a brand's exact specifications draws more shopper attention than a generic unit.
- Compliance with retail requirements: Major chains enforce specific display dimensions and setup standards, so a manufacturer familiar with those specifications avoids costly rework.
- Material quality and cost-effectiveness: Corrugated cardboard is fully recyclable, pairing sustainability with a lower price point than heavier alternatives.
About Great Northern Instore
Great Northern Instore is a retail display and packaging manufacturer that has served brands since 1976. From design through distribution, the company manages every stage of a project internally, engineering temporary, semipermanent and permanent installations across a range of materials. Great Northern Instore has won more than 100 industry awards since 2014, including 48 OMA Awards over the past decade.
Media Contact
Shane Jones, Great Northern Instore, 1 (717) 928-0683, [email protected], https://www.greatnortherninstore.com/
SOURCE Great Northern Instore
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