Athlone businesses Pat McDonnell Paints and Søstrene Grene have both been named among the top 100 retail stores in the country by Retail Excellence Ireland.
The Top100 stores are part of the Retail Excellence Awards, which were established in 1997 to promote best practice and encourage high standards in the Irish retail industry and are now the largest and most prestigious of its kind in Ireland. The awards will take place on Saturday, November 11, in the Malton Hotel in Killarney.
“This is great news for us and especially for our customers,” said Peadar Mulvihill, store manager at Pat McDonnell Paints, “We’re forever saying ‘We Care More. We Know More. We Have More‘ to our customers and it’s nice for the magnificent team here to be recognised for their efforts. Now we just need to concentrate on getting into the Top 30!”
David Fitzsimons, chief executive of Retail Excellence, commented: “There were almost 700 entries nationwide and as with other years we are delighted with the quality of applicants this year. The very high standard of service, customer engagement and display among Irish retailers was very evident which made selecting this year’s Top100 particularly difficult.
“I want to commend all who entered this year and in particular, I want congratulate the Top100 stores for making it through. Those named as Top100 finalists have what it takes to shine through and be recognised as the best retailers in the country.
“The Retail Excellence 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 keeping businesses open, retail workers in jobs and our town centres vibrant which in turn will re-engage with citizens and customers alike. We look forward to going through the process with our members and continuing to drive standards in retail in this country.”
