London shop workers are among those who celebrated receiving a Retail Week Award last night.
Teams at Homebase’s Catford store, Currys’ Beckton store and the EE Studio at Westfield London (White City) were among the winners announced during the glittering ceremony at The Grosvenor House hotel in Park Lane, hosted by TV presenter, Rylan Clark.
Homebase’s Catford team won the coveted Community Heroes Award for their work supporting local schools, fire brigades, police, and parks across south London.
The Beckton store team from Currys, won the coveted Store Heroes Award for driving sales and customer satisfaction rates.
Paula Coughlan, chief people, communications & sustainability officer at Currys, said: “Congratulations to our Beckton team! This store has built on delivering a sustained performance year on year to smash commercial and cultural targets out of the water in 2022/23. A small but mighty team, they have a laser focus on our customer, colleagues, community and profits.”
Incredible honour
And the EE Studio in Westfield London (White City) won ‘Best New Store’. The experiential shop which opened last year features a host of new experience zones including a gaming area, smart home zone and a digital spa where customers can use technology to detox from their screens.
Asif Aziz OBE, EE retail director said: “Winning ‘Best New Store’ is an incredible honour. Our Studio store is designed to bring our customers the best connectivity and technology solutions for their connected lives, with our guides on hand to share their expert and personal advice and guidance.
“A big thank you to our hardworking teams who have all played a part in developing and delivering our flagship store. We are committed to being the most personal, customer-focused brand in the UK, and delivering on this promise through life-centric, experiential retail. This fantastic award is a sign that we are just getting started”.
Other big winners on the night included Lidl – beloved for its ‘midl’ aisle, ironically cool own-brand socks and sliders, and top-notch in-store bakery, who became the UK’s best supermarket after taking the top gong at the glittering awards ceremony – the first time it has beaten fellow German grocer Aldi.
Lidl’s win comes hot on the heels of an amazing year for the supermarket when 1.4 million more UK customers entered its doors and it reported an 18.8% increase in sales, to £9.3 billion. It’s now the third-largest supermarket in London, overtaking Asda and gaining ground on Tesco and Sainsbury’s.
And, after years of failing to impress fashion-focused customers, Marks and Spencer – which saw its holiday clothes and jeans fly last year – impressed the critics enough to reclaim its ‘Fashion Retailer of the Year’ crown.
The Retail Week Awards have been recognising and rewarding the efforts of retailers and retail workers for nearly 30 years and this year’s London winners were selected by judging panel made up of some of the most respected names in the industry, ranging from WHSmith’s chief executive Carl Cowling to White Stuff’s chief executive Jo Jenkins.
Retail Week Awards 2024 winners
THE AMERICAN EXPRESS INCLUSION & DIVERSITY HERO/HEROES AWARD – Lucy Bains, regional operations director, Pets at Home
THE BEST NEW STORE AWARD – EE
THE BEST RETAILER OVER £250m – Tesco
THE CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE GAMECHANGER AWARD – Holland & Barrett
THE CONSUMER CHOICE AWARD – Amazon
THE COMMUNITY HERO/HEROES AWARD – Homebase, Catford
THE DELIVERY HERO/HEROES AWARD – Bobby Storey, ScS
THE FASHION RETAILER OF THE YEAR AWARD – Marks and Spencer
THE GREEN INITIATIVE – Currys
THE INTERNATIONAL RETAILER OF THE YEAR – Primark
THE MICROSOFT AWARD FOR THE HAPPIEST PLACE TO WORK IN ASSOCIATION WITH THE RETAIL TRUST – Majestic Wine
THE OUTSTANDING CONTRIBUTION TO RETAIL AWARD – Judith McKenna, president and CEO, Walmart International
THE RELEX SOLUTIONS RESPONSIBLE RETAILER AWARD – Cook
THE SALESFORCE BEST RETAILER UNDER £250m – Jollyes
THE SALESFORCE RETAIL LEADER OF THE YEAR AWARD – Simon Roberts, CEO, Sainsbury’s
THE SAP HEAD OFFICE HERO/HEROES AWARD – Team Fusion, Ann Summers
THE SOFTSERVE GROCER OF THE YEAR – Lidl
THE SPECIALITY RETAILER OF THE YEAR – HMV
THE STORE HEROES AWARD – Beckton store team, Currys
