Last week’s Greats Gift Retailer Awards (held on September 30) not only brought the gifts and home industry together for a night of well deserved reward and recognition, but also gave gift retailers of all shapes and sizes a welcome morale boost.
“Our team has worked really hard since reopening after lockdown, staying positive and striving to maintain our usual high standards,” commented Northallerton department store Barkers’ Geraldine Burke and Sharon Wake, joint managers/buyers for cookshop and gifts. “We were thrilled to be named winners and to hear something positive in what has been a year of negativity,”
Added Hazel Small, buyer – gifts, RHS Garden Wisley: “I was absolutely over the moon when I heard we were the winner in the Best Garden Centre Retailer of Gifts category. Such a lot of planning and hard work went into making our new shop by the team, and to have that recognised by the wider retail community means so much. It’s a real boost to everyone to have some good news to celebrate during these challenging times!”
Also on cloud 9 were the team from Buy The Light in Bury St Edmunds: “We were ecstatic when we heard we’d won the title of Independent Gift Retailer of the Year – East Anglia, we couldn’t believe it!” exclaimed director Lesley Bancroft. “We posted on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram with so many comments coming back from our followers. It’s our great team, great suppliers and, particularly, our great customers that have made us winners!”
Meanwhile, clinking champagne glasses in Highworth, were Aga Gabrysiak and Richard Marsden, co-owners of Highworth Emporium, who watched The Greats Awards with their team in a local hotel. The shop won the Best Retailer Initiative category.
In Malton, Liz Kemp, owner of Kemps General Store and Kemps on the Coast in Whitby, winner of the Independent Gift Retailer of the Year – North & Northern Ireland, explained: “The Awards took place the night before we opened in our new shop, which has an added bookshop, so it’s all been a bit of a blur, but our success has certainly made us really, really happy and proud. We were so thrilled and surprised to win.”
To watch The Greats Awards, visit giftsandhome.net/the-greats/
Top: RHS Garden Wisley’s Hazel Small, buyer – gifts, tasting success at The Greats
