25 Jul 2024
They’re back! The biggest and best celebration of our incredible retail champions, proving why St Albans has a high street to be proud of.
The St Albans Retailer of the Year Awards 2025 are brought to you by The Maltings Shopping Centre, the St Albans Times and Mix 92.6FM – showcasing all that is great about our city centre.
The awards have not run since 2018, since which time we have gone through Covid and the cost-of-living crisis, so there really has been no better time for a revival.
Maltings general manager Richard Marrett said: “We’ve been wanting to bring back the Retailer of the Year Awards for a very long time, but needed the right support from key organisations within the community, so when I heard that both the St Albans Times and Mix 92.6FM were also talking about a revival it could not have been more serendipitous.”
St Albans Times editor Matt Adams said: “We’re all about celebrating what is great about our cathedral city, and these awards will focus on our remarkable retail community, who are definitely overdue some wider recognition.”
Faye Penford from Mix 92.6FM added: “The awards will highlight what makes our favourite shops and stalls stand out in a busy marketplace, and be a spectacular celebration of the district’s diverse retail platforms. I can’t wait!”
Members of the public will be asked to nominate their favourites to go forwards for final selection by a panel of expert judges.
Categories:
- Market stall – Celebrating the rich mix of traders working rain, wind or shine at St Albans’ various markets, including the Charter Market, the Vintage Market, the Farmers’ Market and the Vegan Market.
- Independents – We want to recognise the single premises business which brings something different to St Albans’ retail footprint.
- Food and drink retailer – Whether it’s sinful cupcakes or locally produced spirits, Italian delicacies to festive hampers, we know our food and drink retailers have a loyal customer base who really won’t shop anywhere else. Now is the opportunity to tell more people why.
- Hair and beauty – This is a chance to sing about our salons, nail bars, barbers, skincare experts and everything in between. If their job is to make you look your best, then they’re worth nominating.
- Customer service – Who is the retail individual who always greets you by name, who keeps on smiling no matter how busy they are, and who makes your shopping experience just that extra bit special? We want to shine a spotlight on the city’s retail assistants, bar managers, restaurant serving staff and anyone else you believe deserves extra recognition.
- Fashion and accessories – From hair clips to halternecks, jeans to jewellery, there is certainly no shortage of exciting and innovative fashion outlets in our city centre. But who is your favourite?
- Entertainment and lifestyle – From travel agents to escape rooms, VR experiences to card shops, there are plenty of outlets whose job it is to give your life a certain sparkle. Let’s shout about them!
- Champion of the Year (selected from other winners).
To nominate your favourites, visit the dedicated website at https://mix926.com/retailer/
The winners will be revealed at a gala ceremony taking place in The Maltings Arts Theatre on Monday November 18.
Further details of this exclusive event will be revealed closer to the time, but guests can expect bubbles, glamour, celebrations and food from one of our top local restaurants.
Terms and conditions
Eligible businesses must have been trading within the year ending June 30 2024, and located within a central area of the city of St Albans encompassing the A414 to the south, Beech Road to the north, the western end of George Street and Catherine Street, and Hatfield Road as far east as Oaklands College. This includes areas like The Quadrant, Cell Barnes Road shops, New House Park, Albert Bygrave Retail Park.
Entrants must agree to media publicity and photos.
The judges’ decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into.
We’re also looking for individual sponsors for the different categories – if you’re interested please contact advertising@stalbanstimes.co.uk
