Retail Excellence Ireland, Ireland’s largest retail industry body, has just announced the Top100 stores in Ireland and seven of these are located in Galway, where the awards ceremony will be held this winter.
The Top100 stores are part of the Retail Excellence Ireland (REI ) Awards, which were established in 1997 to promote best practise standards in the Irish retail industry. The awards, taking place on Saturday November 3, focus on promoting and recognising standards of excellence in retail. The awards programme is now the largest and most prestigious of its kind in Ireland.
As part of the Top100 selection process, all store entrants were visited by a Mystery Shopper, with those exceeding demanding service and standards criteria making it to the Top100 Stores. A team of Store Assessors will now visit each of the Top100 Stores, selecting the Top50 stores and then the final Top 30. The winning stores will be selected based on the reports data gathered and a review of store photography and in-store video recording evidence.
David Fitzsimons, Chief Executive, Retail Excellence Ireland commented, "I want to commend all of the retailers who entered this year. In particular, I congratulate the Top100 stores for making it through. The very high standard of service, customer engagement, display and levels of investment among Irish retailers made selecting this year’s Top100 particularly difficult. The REI awards are about recognising and rewarding retail excellence”.
“High standards are particularly important given the very severe challenges currently facing Ireland’s retail industry. It is clear from the quality of this year’s entrants that the retail industry is playing its part in trying to keep businesses open and retail workers in jobs. Initiatives like the Town and City Management Framework are created to help revitalise towns and cities across Ireland which in turn will re-engage with citizens and customers alike”.
The Retail Excellence Ireland Awards, in partnership with Barclaycard, aim to promote best practice standards in the Irish retail industry. The awards, which recognise Ireland’s best retail stores, companies, people and websites, take place in Galway with President Michael D. Higgins in attendance. This is the 15th year of the industry awards which command over 600 entries annually.
