Over 42 shops and stores in The Mercury Shopping Centre in Romford have had their time to shine in this year’s Retailer Awards. With winners and nominees chosen by a public online vote.
An action-packed awards ceremony was held on Wednesday 16th August in Upminster. VIP guests including the Mayor of Havering, Councillor Stephanie Nunn, who gave out the ‘Shining Star Award’ to H&T Pawnbroker’s Daisy Esguerra for her happy demeanour and welcoming of new staff into the centre’s community.
The evening took a step back in time with its Bridgerton theme, and the night unfolded with a three-course meal, a local classical violin set by local musician Megan, a menagerie of birds hosted by Exotic Explorers and live contortion performances from ‘Queen Charlotte’s’ very own contortionist from the show!
The Mercury Shopping Centre, who run this annual awards event say that celebrating successes together as a centre helps to make The Mercury a community that people want to work in.
Natalie Bays, Deputy Centre Manager says:
“I always enjoy seeing our tenants being rewarded for the hard work they put in day to day. It is sometimes difficult to see how much impact you are having in retail, especially when times are tough. So any nomination a store or individual has received with so much competition is a real big indicator that you are doing well!”
From big high-street names to smaller individual businesses, everyone had an equal chance to win with a customer centric voting system.
This year there were nine awards, including an award for ‘Community Recognition’ – this award celebrates a business going above and beyond in supporting local charities and community groups. This year it was won by Premiere Cinemas who have given our local gaming club ‘Dicing With Life’ a rent-free home for 6 months as well as supporting Kaleidoscope, Havering’s LGBTQIA+ youth group with a free, safe meeting space.
The Visual Merchandising Award was won by family business Cobra Monkey Tattoo Emporium for their stunning shop aesthetics. This store prides itself on being a creative space for its clients and earlier in the year partnered with local arts group Havering Changing to be the backdrop of a theatrical community performance about the Tattoos of Havering called ‘Inked’.
Other winners on the night included Yours for their friendly Customer Experience in Store, Timpson’s for their continued dedication to environmentally friendly practise and Storkys Baby & Childrenswear and McDonalds who, again took home the Small and Large Retailer of the year awards. A new business in the centre ‘Excel Kid’s’ won the centre’s ‘Ingenuity Award’ for their unique 7-day a week childcare business plan.
Spencer Hawken, centre manager said:
“It is a joy to be able to award our retailers for their perseverance to success, and each and every nominated business in the evenings award event are helping us achieve a very special place to shop in Romford.”
Each award was sponsored by companies that work closely alongside the centre, including Bidvest Noonan who are the security and cleaning contract managers for the centre, Bellrock, who provide all of the centres planned engineering services, Event Capture who provide photography services for the centre’s event and B&M Waste who provide waste brokerage for the centre. Natalie Bays, Deputy Centre Manager says:
“We are incredibly grateful for all the continued support from our sponsors; the best part about the sponsorship programme for us is celebrating the evening together with them. And we did just that.”
Announcements of all finalists and winners will be released on Instagram and Facebook @themercurymall this week.