With The Henries awards having recently rewarded excellence on the publishing side, next month sees the UK’s outstanding greeting card retailers receiving the recognition they deserve, in The Retas greeting card retailer awards.
While the finalists of these revered accolades were announced back in May, due to lockdown restrictions, the actual award event was postponed from the original July date to Tuesday 16 November 2021.
The lavish lunchtime event, which this year takes on a Finery of Greenery theme, will be staged in the Ballroom of The JW Marriott Grosvenor House hotel on London’s Park Lane.
“In what must rank as the most challenging period for retail ever, the line-up of The Retas 2021 finalists stands as testament to the passion, inventiveness, nous and tenacity of the UK’s leading greeting card stockists,” commented Warren Lomax, joint managing director of Max Publishing, which owns and organises The Retas. “Even throughout the forced closures during the lockdowns of the last year, so many found ways to continue to inspire, excite and over deliver on consumer expectations on the greeting card front. As there was no Retas awards last year, this year’s will be a double celebration!” he added.
To remind yourself which retailers are up for The Retas awards…click here.
The Retas awards event will start with pre-lunch drinks at 11.45am, followed by a delectable three course lunch. Comedian Stuart Goldsmith is to compere the awards ceremony while following this, there will be plenty of time to network with a dedicated bar area set aside for Retas guests in the foyer of the Ballroom.
Tickets and tables to The Retas 2021 can be bought online via www.max-subscriptions.net or by contacting The Retas’ awards organiser, Clare Hollick of Createvents on 01183 340085 or by emailing her on clare@createvents.co.uk.
The Retas 2021 has a strong roster of sponsors, all leading companies, who are all committed to rewarding retailing expertise. These currently include The Art File, Belly Button Designs, Carte Blanche Greetings, Cath Tate Cards, Danilo, Hallmark, Heritage Art & Design, The Imaging Centre, Ohh Deer, Ling Design, Paper Salad, Paperlink, Pigment Productions, Progressive Greetings Live, Second Nature, Sensations, UK Greetings, Wendy Jones-Blackett and Woodmansterne Publications.
More information about The Retas can be found on the awards’ website, including the Covid policy for those attending.
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Above: The last Retas event was in 2019, when it was on a Frida Kahlo theme.
Top: Which retailers’ names will be on The Retas’ trophies this year?!
