Hop to it – put the best greetings shops forward by 28 March deadline
Hop to it! There’s still time to shout about your top card stores – we want to hear about all the great greeting card retailers as The Retas Awards 28 March nominations deadline is fast approaching.
With the greeting card community kicking back at the current retail decline there are so many fabulous stores out there who deserve to be recognised for their sterling efforts making sure they cater for Brits’ love of cards.
The world’s only dedicated awards for greeting card retailers, winning a Retas’ trophy is recognised as a true accolade of retail excellence, with 19 award categories covering indies through to multiple chains, department stores to grocers, and everything in between.
“So many greeting card retailers really have pulled out the stops in the last year with their product selection, customer engagement and marketing initiatives,” said Warren Lomax, chairman of Max Publishing which owns and organises The Retas, “and they absolutely deserve to have their prowess recognised.”
The deadline for Retas 2024 Awards nominations by publishers, sales reps and agents is Thursday, 28 March, and we’d like to know what the retailer has done to make their shop stand out over the past year – along with the store and owner’s name and location of course!
Max Publishing md and editorial director Jakki Brown said: “Some of our lovely retailer friends are far too modest or shy to put themselves forward for these awards so, to maintain the integrity of these important accolades’ we would appreciate input from publishers, agents and reps.”
People can also nominate their top shops by emailing Jakki, so please do pass the details on to all sales team members and agents and, as the awards ceremony on 4 July is taking on a Beatrix Potter theme, we’d really like you to hop to it to get those nominations in by 28 March!
The full list of categories is below, and we’re asking for three nominations in each, or more if you’d like, for their retail activities demonstrating ingenuity, a commitment to engage with their customers, over delivering on product selection, retailing environment and customer service in the year running to 14 April, 2024.
Of course, we’re also hoping many retailers will give themselves a big pat on the back by entering their own shop into the awards –there’s a slightly longer deadline there of Friday, 15 April, and the retailer entry form can be downloaded here.
“We’re hoping people won’t be shy,” Warren added, “if you’ve a great shop please do shout about it by nominating yourself, you definitely deserve it!”
All the winners will be announced at the fabulous awards lunch and afternoon event to be held on Thursday, 4 July, in the Ballroom of London’s Grosvenor House Hotel which this year will take on a World Of Peter Rabbit theme, with the full blessing and support of Frederick Warne & Co and Penguin Ventures, with imagery supplied courtesy of the Frederick Warne Archive.
The full list of The Retas Awards 2024 categories is:
Best Independent Greeting Card Retailer – London (inside the M25)
Best Independent Greeting Card Retailer – Home Counties
Best Independent Greeting Card Retailer – East Anglia
Best Independent Greeting Card Retailer – South West
Best Independent Greeting Card Retailer – Wales
Best Independent Greeting Card Retailer – The Midlands
Best Independent Greeting Card Retailer – North West England & N Ireland
Best Independent Greeting Card Retailer – North East England
Best Independent Greeting Card Retailer – Scotland
Best Greeting Card Retailer Newcomer (opened since Jan 2021)
Best Independent Bookstore Retailer Of Greeting Cards
Best Non-Specialist Independent Retailer Of Greeting Cards – North
Best Non-Specialist Independent Retailer Of Greeting Cards – South
Best Greeting Card Small Multiple (5-20 stores)
Best Department Store Retailer of Greeting Cards
Best Supermarket Retailer Of Greeting Cards
Best Non-Specialist Multiple Retailer Of Greeting Cards
Best Specialist Multiple Retailer Of Greeting Cards (20+ stores)
Best Garden Centre Retailer Of Greeting Cards – Independent
Best Garden Centre Retailer Of Greeting Cards – Multiple Or Group
Best Greeting Card Retailer Initiative (for a specific project or initiative undertaken by a retailer since 15 April, 2023)
Best Greeting Card Wholesaler
Greeting Card Retailer Of The Year
The Retas 2024 is supported by a strong roster of committed sponsors which includes Abacus Cards, The Art File, Belly Button Designs, Carte Blanche Greetings, Cath Tate Cards, Danilo, GBCC, Hallmark, IC&G, Ling Design, Lucilla Lavender, Meraki, Museums & Galleries, Ohh Deer, Paperlink, Pigment, Progressive Greetings Live, Rosie Made A Thing, Sensations/Express Yourself, Spring Fair/Autumn Fair, UK Greetings, W Select, Wendy Jones-Blackett, and Woodmansterne Publications.
To be among the UK’s best greeting card retailers as well as some great card publishers at the ceremony, you can book your tickets online to The Retas now via Max-Tickets.net or contact The Retas’ awards manager Clare Hollick, director of Createvents, on 0118 334 0085 or email clare@createvents.co.uk.
