Awards matter

Sitting at a table at last Thursday’s Retail Week Awards it was hard to be phlegmatic about the proceedings. If someone had decided, perish the thought, to get rid of most of UK retail’s senior management at a stroke, this would have been the evening to do so. Almost everybody you could think of, with the exception of the main board of M&S (as noted by Sir Stuart Rose as he picked up a lifetime achievement award), was in the room and inevitably there was triumph for some and crashing disappointment for others

And reading one analyst’s notes the following day, discussions were still going on about why the store design prize had gone to the very worthy winner: Topshop. Store design is actually one of the more hotly contested gongs and it is easy to see why this should be the case. Comparing the design merits of, say, a DIY store with perhaps a fashion shop is always going to lead to questions about process and fairness.

Yet in truth, a decision has to be made and given that this will be the outcome of discussion between the members of an august panel, the system may be imperfect, but it is as good as it’s likely to get.

There is one cliché that you will generally encounter at evenings like last Thursday (although mercifully on this occasion, guests were spared) and that is that to make the shortlist you are a winner anyway. While this is clearly not the case, there is only one winner, the store design category is always fiercely contested and any retailer’s name that does appear on the big screen should feel at least a hint of pride.

Now cast your mind forward roughly six months from now. Another set of judges, your correspondent included, will have deliberated about store design and provided decisions about a series of store design categories. The scene will be set for the Retail Week Interiors awards 2011 and although the venue will be about 400m down the road, in the Park Lane Hilton, the sense of anticipation will be just as keen.

All that this goes to show is the importance afforded by retailers to store design and equally how the success or failure of an enterprise may, in no small measure, be directly attributed to how good it is. And for those of you considering entering the Retail Week Interiors race to the top, the competition is open for entries from next month. Details to follow anon.