For the second year in a row, Hair Lab was the biggest winner of the night at the 2019 Festival Place Gold Retailer Awards.
More than 4.5k customers voted for their favourite retailers and star employees at the Basingstoke shopping centre’s vast range of stores, restaurants and leisure facilities.
At the awards ceremony at Las Iguanas at Festival Place, Hair Lab picked up the coveted Store of the Year award and was runner-up in the Health, Beauty & Wellbeing Retailer of the Year and Independent Retailer of the Year categories.
Manager Chigz Hirani, who owns and runs Hair Lab, won Manager of the Year, with Danielle Howell runner-up. Danielle also took top honours in the Outstanding Member of Staff category, with Patience Fry runner-up.
Other winners on the night included Shaun Beer, from Moss Bros, who received the Special Recognition Award. The judges said Shaun perfectly demonstrated Festival Place’s one-team ethos, and had assisted the team in an incident at the centre where his quick reactions led to a positive outcome.
Neon Sheep picked up both the coveted Specialist Retailer of the Year and Independent Retailer of the Year, Pandora was named National Retailer of the Year, Nando’s won Food & Beverage Retailer of the Year, and Lush was voted Health & Beauty Retailer of the Year.
The Outstanding Customer Experience was based on receiving 100 per cent from three mystery shops in a row, and went to Newbury Building Society. *See full list of winners below.
Festival Place Business Performance Manager Rachel Carter said: “This is the fourth year of our annual FP Gold Retailer Awards – and this year saw us scrap all paper votes as part of our sustainability initiatives.
“These awards recognise and reward the amazing individuals and teams who help make our centre such a success, and our Retailers’ Retailer of the Year Award also emphasises how well our wonderful retailers work with each other!
“A huge thank you goes out to all those customers who stopped and took the time to vote for their favourites – we value their opinions and these awards are a brilliant way to learn more about their experience with us.
“As well as the customer-voted categories, we also had several awards that were decided by the Festival Place management team, and these were hugely competitive. Every nominated retailer and employee would have been a worthy winner, so many congratulations to all involved.”
The winners and runners up for the 2019 FP Retailer Gold Awards are:
Fashion & Jewellery Retailer of the Year
Winner – Apricot
Runner-up – Pandora
Entertainment & Technology Retailer of the Year
Winner – Vue Cinema
Runner-up – Apple
Specialist Retailer of the Year
Winner – Neon Sheep
Runner-up – Build a Bear
Health, Beauty & Wellbeing Retailer of the Year
Winner – Lush
Runner-up – Hair Lab
Food & Beverage Retailer of the Year
Winner – Nando’s
Runner-up – Festival Street Kitchen
Independent Retailer of the Year
Winner – Neon Sheep
Runner-up – Hair Lab
National Retailer of the Year
Winner – Pandora
Runner-up – Lush
Outstanding Member of Staff
Winner – Danielle Howell, Hair Lab
Runner-up – Patience Fry, Hair Lab
Manager of the Year
Winner – Chigz Hirani, Hair Lab
Runner-up – Danielle Howell, Hair Lab
Store of the Year
Winner – Hair Lab
Runner-up – Apricot
Retailers Retailer of the Year
Winner – Skechers
Runner-up – Cool Merch!
Highest Increase in Like for Like Sales
Winner – Beaverbrooks
Runner-up – Vue
Compliance
Winner – Greggs (Bus Station)
Runner-up – Hotel Chocolat
Engagement with the FP team
Winner – F Hinds
Runner-up – Pandora
Special Recognition Award
Winner – Shaun Beer, Moss Bros
Outstanding Customer Experience (based on receiving 100% in three mystery shops in a row)
Winner – Newbury Building Society
Runner-up – Lloyds Bank
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