Housewares retailers around the UK are expressing their pride and delight on reaching the impressive list of finalist for The Excellence in Housewares Awards 2020.
“I am absolutely thrilled and over the moon – just wow!” exclaimed Andrea Ball, buyer for Wroes of Bude (finalist in the Excellence in Retailer Initiative Award for its Tea Emporium). “It’s wonderful to be recognised for this initiative and to make it to the finals among some of the best in the industry is fantastic.” Andrea reflected: “We all have to be a bit creative in the way we retail these days and developing ideas like this and building on trends is the only way to keep moving forwards. Thank you so much – we’re just all smiles at Wroes!”
The team at Barkers, Northallerton was excited to hear they had reached the finals in three categories. Bridie Wilkison, marketing manager noted: “We have some tough competition, with the likes of John Lewis and Harrods, but we are thrilled to be in the same category as these retail leaders. “
She added: “We feel honoured to be nominated for the award in Retail Initiative for our Christmas magazine (this was created by me, Bridie, as well as our talented VM team Louise Webster and Fiona Goldie). This was our first attempt at a Christmas magazine – everything was all done in house, and matched the theme of both stores, ‘Fizz, Bang, Pop’. We are currently working on another Christmas Gift Guide this year, which we hope will be even better!”
In Sturminster Newton, Harts of Stur’s Jon Dart commented: “We are extremely happy to have been nominated for two awards – Excellence in Online Retailing and Excellence in Retail Initiative – in the Excellence In Housewares Awards 2020. This has been an unprecedented year with many challenges beyond our control. These nominations are well-deserved recognition for our employees who have all worked very hard and adapted to an ever-changing environment to maintain the high standards of service we strive for.”
Jon added: ”Although it’s a shame we won’t be able to attend the awards night in person, we are looking forward in anticipation to the digital awards evening on the 9th December.”
One of the new Best Garden Centre Award finalists, Natalie Graham of Garsons in Esher enthused: “This is fantastic news, we are so thrilled to hear that we are a finalist.” One of several branches of Fenwick represented in the finalist list, Nancy Foster, store director of Fenwick Colchester exclaimed: “What fantastic news, the team and I are absolutely delighted!”
The Excellence in Housewares winners will be revealed in an online extravaganza on December 9.
www.excellenceinhousewaresawards.co.uk
Top: Andrea Ball (left) and Mary-Ann Moore celebrate at Wroes of Bude.
