A Great Malvern shop has thanked its customers after being nominated for two national awards.
Austin & Co has reached the final of the Retas 2023 Greeting Card Retailer Awards.
The Worcester Road shop is nominated in two categories - Best Independent Greeting Card Retailer in The Midlands, and the Best Greeting Card Retailer Initiative.
The latter is in recognition of Austin & Co’s Nessa’s Christmas Dog Food Drive, an initiative that supports the work of the Worcestershire Animal Rescue Shelter in Newland.
Owner Sean Austin said: “Doing a job you love for the past 12 years is reward enough - but to be recognised by your peers and others in your industry is the icing on the cake.
“It is proof we are doing something right in these challenging times and, for that, we must thank our loyal customers who have supported us through thick and thin by loving what we do in Malvern.”
The Retas Awards, now in their 19th year, are the only dedicated awards to recognise and reward the UK’s very best greeting card retailers from across the retail spectrum.
Greeting cards are sold in one in six shops in the UK, so reaching the finals of The Retas is a notable achievement.
The sending of greeting cards is an ingrained part of UK culture, with the British public spending £1.7 billion on greeting cards in the last year alone.
The nation sends more cards per capita than anywhere in the world – and The Retas Awards celebrate the finest greeting card retail stockists in the UK.
All Retas finalists were decided as a result of an industrywide poll of greeting card suppliers, reps and agents and validated by a panel of experts.
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This year’s winners will be revealed at an awards lunch at the Grosvenor House Hotel in London’s Park Lane on Thursday, July 6.
The Awards recognise and celebrate not only the top independent and multiple greeting card retailers regionally and nationally, but also outstanding retail employees.
Further details can be found at www.theretasawards.co.uk
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