A CARD shop in Malvern has made it to the finals of a nationwide awards competition.

Austin and Co is celebrating making it to the finals of the Retas 2021 Greeting Card Retailer Awards, which celebrate not only the top independent and multiple greeting card retailers regionally and nationally, but also outstanding retail employees.

Austin and Co was founded in 2011 and is owned by Sean Austin.

Prior to retail, Sean’s background was in corporate librarianship and business research, including assignments to blue chip companies including top 50 ranked law firms, Mars Confectionery, and in the marketing department at the head office of the WHSmith.

In 2014’s Retas awards, Austin and Co Best Greeting Card Newcomers.

“In what must rank as the most challenging period for retail ever, reaching the finals of The Retas 2021 is testament to the passion, inventiveness, nous and tenacity of the UK’s leading greeting card stockists,” said Jakki Brown, joint managing director of Max Publishing, which owns and organises The Retas.

The sending of greeting cards is an engrained part of UK culture, with the British public spending an unprecedented £1.7 billion on greeting cards in the last year alone.

The nation leads the world in greeting card design and sends more cards per capita – and The Retas Awards celebrate the very finest greeting card retail stockists in the UK.

All Retas finalists were decided as a result of an industry-wide poll of greeting card suppliers, reps and agents and validated by a panel of experts.

The winners of this year’s prestigious greeting card retailing awards - The Retas 2021 – will be revealed at an awards lunch at the glamorous Grosvenor House Hotel on London’s Park Lane on Wednesday July 14.

The Retas Awards, now in their 17th year, are the only dedicated awards to recognise and reward the UK’s very best greeting card retailers from right across the retail spectrum.

Further details can be found at www.theretasawards.co.uk