Public help greetings retailers scoop county titles in local businesses campaign
The website may have crashed but plenty of votes got through for the Muddy Stilettos awards with greeting card retailers snapping up a number of the county titles.
No14 Ampthill, Highworth Emporium, Little Boat Gifts, Rock Paper Scissors and The Costwold Snug are just five of the greeting card and gift retailers to come out top after a public vote for the 10th annual awards for independent businesses – with an astonishing 77,000 nominated and 800,000 votes cast, and it means a lot to the winners as the video below shows.
“Wow! We’re still in disbelief,” Highworth Emporium co-owner Aga Marsden said. “When we found out we were in the Muddy Stilettos final we genuinely didn’t think we had a chance, and here we are – Best Lifestyle Store in Wiltshire!
“We have been awarded in the past but this award feels particularly special as it comes from you – our customers and friends. Thank you so much, and a special thank you from me and Richard to the team of Amber, Loraine, Vicky and Emily who make the Emporium a very special place.”
Over in Brightlingsea, Little Boat Gifts co-owner Olivia Goddard has already been named one of 2023’s top 100 female entrepreneurs in a campaign run by Small Business Britain, and now she can add Best Lifestyle Store In Essex to her haul.
Olivia, who runs the greetings, gift and framing store with husband Pete Reilly, said: “It really means a lot knowing that we made it through because of all the support we’ve had from our lovely customers!”
At not quite two years old, Moreton-In-Marsh’s The Cotswold Snug was named the Best Lifestyle Store in Gloucestershire and Worcestershire and owner Melissa Blundell is pretty chuffed: “We could not have done this without you, our wonderful customers and friends, thank you so very much for nominating us, voting for us and supporting us.
“Since opening our doors almost two years ago now, we’ve been overwhelmed by the support we have received from both local and visiting customers and we can’t thank you enough! Winning this award has been the icing on the cake.”
Also, just a couple of years old is Rock Paper Scissors, a print studio and lifestyle shop founded by cousins Liz Wellstead and Charlie Wilkie in Canterbury after deciding on a life change following the pandemic.
“Tuesday was full of surprises,” they said. “We won the Best Lifestyle Store in Kent for Muddy Stilettos, we also then heard we’re through to the finals for the best start-up Canterbury Kent Business Awards – I’m going to do the lottery on Friday, you never know!
“To all our customers old and new, and all of our lovely studio family, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts – this time next year we’ll be millionaires.”
And at No14 Ampthill, owner Jo Barber told PG Buzz: “We were a bit worried because the voting system went down on the last day when we were just ahead – but we did it! Best Lifestyle Store in Herts & Beds.
“I’m sending the biggest love and thanks to each and every one of you who nominated us and voted for us. This award is made up purely from customer votes, not a judging panel, that’s why it means so much, not just to me, but to everyone in the shop who work so hard, often above and beyond what’s expected.
“I couldn’t have chosen a better location when I decided to open the shop 12 years ago, Ampthill’s a town that always punches above its weight, especially when it comes to loyalty and supporting local, I chose well. This award is for everyone who shops with us, supplies to us, supports us and follows us, I’m chuffed to bits.”
Covering 28 counties across 19 areas, the winners were announced on Tuesday, 13 June, and now go through to the Nationals where the finalists will be revealed in a few weeks’ time.
Muddy Stilettos founder Hero Brown said: “For a whole decade we’ve helped to promote plucky local businesses and High Streets by championing originality, creativity and quality on our website and in our awards.”
The full list of county winners can be found here, in the three categories where retailers are known to sell greeting cards, the county winners 2023 are:
Berkshire
Art Gallery: The Base, Greenham
Bookshop: Hungerford Bookshop, Hungerford
Lifestyle store: Nood Stores, Caversham
Bucks & Oxon
Art Gallery: Carina Haslam Art, Great Missenden
Bookshop: Chapter Two, Chesham
Lifestyle store: Last Interior Design, Haddenham
Cornwall
Art Gallery: Jackson Foundation Gallery, St Just
Bookshop: The Edge Of The World Bookshop, Penzance
Lifestyle store: Just Lily, Porthleven
Devon
Art Gallery: Magenta Fine Art, Ilfracombe
Bookshop: East Gate Bookshop, Totnes
Lifestyle store: Storeys & Tails, Bideford
Dorset & Somerset
Art Gallery: Studio 74, Bristol
Bookshop: Gillivers Bookshop, Wimborne
Lifestyle store: Make By Mary Temperley, Hambridge
Essex
Art Gallery: Chelmer Fine Art, Chelsmford
Bookshop: Red Lion Books
Lifestyle store: Little Boat Gifts, Brightlingsea
Glos & Worcs
Art Gallery: Nature In Art, Gloucester
Bookshop: The Cleeve Bookshop, Bishop’s Cleeve
Lifestyle store: The Cotswold Snug, Moreton-In-Marsh
Hants & IOW
Art Gallery: Forest & Cove, Romsey
Bookshop: The Imaginarium, Lymington
Lifestyle store: H&B Style, Winchester
Herts & Beds
Art Gallery: Broadway Gallery, Letchworth
Bookshop: Next Page Books, Hitchin
Lifestyle store: No14 Ampthill
Kent
Art Gallery: Under The Rainbow Events, Whitstable
Bookshop: The Classroom Children’s Bookshop, Westgate-On-Sea
Lifestyle store: Rock Paper Scissors, Canterbury
Leicester & Rutland
Art Gallery: Wingates Gallery, Market Harborough
Bookshop: Quinns Bookshop, Market Harborough
Lifestyle store: Charlie & Alf’s, Oadby
Norfolk
Art Gallery: Mana Art, Aylsham
Bookshop: Bookbugs & Dragon Tales, Norwich
Lifestyle store: The Scented Barn, Holt
Northants
Art Gallery: The Heseltine Gallery, Middleton Cheney
Bookshop: The Reading Tree, Weedon
Lifestyle store: Abraxas Cookshop, Northampton
Notts & Derbyshire
Art Gallery: Jarva Gallery, Whaley Bridge
Bookshop: The Book Case, Lowdham
Lifestyle store: Design 44, Derby
Suffolk & Cambs
Art Gallery: VK Gallery, St Ives
Bookshop: Dial Lane Books, Ipswich
Lifestyle store: Adorn, Ramsey
Surrey
Art Gallery: Watts Gallery Artists’ Village, Compton
Bookshop: Same Beare Hospice Bookshop, Weybridge
Lifestyle store: The Lost Sheep, Caterham
Sussex
Art Gallery: Two Faced Twins, Worthing
Bookshop: Rother Books, Battle
Lifestyle store: Scent Lounge, Arundel
Warwickshire
Art Gallery: LSA Art Room, Leamington Spa
Bookshop: Warwick Books, Warwick
Lifestyle store: Berylune, Leamington Spa
Wiltshire
Art Gallery: The Corsham Gallery, Corsham
Bookshop: The Corsham Bookshop, Corsham
Lifestyle store: Highworth Emporium, Highworth
