1 August 2017
By Elaine Murphy
elaine@TheCork.ie
Seven Cork businesses have been named among the Top100 Stores in Ireland by Retail Excellence, the largest retail industry representative organization in Ireland.
Cork City retailers Compu b, Lifestyle Sports, Patrick Street, Sketchers, Specsavers and Miss Daisy Blue, Mellerick Pharmacy, Fermoy and O Crualaoi Delicatessen, Ballincollig have made Retail Excellence Ireland’s list of the Top100 best stores in the country.
The Seven businesses are the only stores in Cork to make the prestigious list.
The Top100 stores are part of the Retail Excellence (RE) 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.
David Fitzsimons, Chief Executive of Retail Excellence Ireland 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.”
How it works
As part of the Top100 selection process, all store entrants were visited by a mystery shopper, with those exceeding service and standards criteria making it to the Top100 stores. The Top100 will now be invited to a private briefing with Echochamber, a creative retail agency who tracks global retail trends, on Tuesday 22 August where they will be presented with the 10 pillars of Retail Excellence and will be given time to prepare a submission showing evidence they meet those 10 pillars.
Echochamber will then consider the submissions and will proceed to selecting the Top 30 stores which will be announced on September 22. The Top30 stores will then be rigorously tested before being whittled down to the top 3 finalists and winners in sectoral categories.
