This week marks the launch of the Convenience Retail Awards 2014 where we begin the search for the UK’s finest retailers.

Our prestigious awards will be held at a dazzling ceremony at The Grange in St Paul’s, London on March 6. Receiving an award in a room full of peers is an honour in itself, but the repercussions of winning reach much further.

Go to www.cr-awards.co.uk to enter your store for CRA 2014

“Winning the award was amazing, it was a big pat on the back and everyone was so full of praise,” says Paul Cheema, who picked up Convenience Retailer of the Year 2013 for Malcolm’s Store in Coventry with brothers Pinda and Aman. “But it’s not just about the person who collects the award, it means a lot to the whole community. The biggest part of winning for us was that our customers were buzzing too - they were delighted that their store was the best in the UK. We even had old customers who had moved away come back to say well done. “

The brothers have grown their business by developing strong working relationships with suppliers, and winning the award has helped to nurture even more pro-active partnerships. “It’s bought more suppliers knocking on our door to work with us - it’s been a win win all round,” says Paul.

Having seen the benefits of winning first hand, Paul is keen for other retailers to enter the Convenience Retail Awards. “Since we won the award I’ve been telling lots of other retailers to get involved and start entering these awards.”

We are looking for those who go above and beyond in their efforts to constantly adapt and improve their stores.

If you pride yourself on customer service, are constantly striving to maintain high store standards, and breaking the mould with new ideas to increase footfall and sales, then we want to hear from you.

So what are you waiting for? Go to www.cr-awards.co.uk and put your store in the running for the sector’s top accolade.

Awards categories

The awards programme is split into two main parts. The store awards celebrate outstanding all-round achievement in the field of convenience retailing and are divided into large, medium and small store categories, with the medium-sized stores divided again into multiple and independent sub-categories.

Best Independent Convenience Store (9 stores or fewer)

Best Multiple Convenience Store (10 stores or more)

Best Small Store (1,500 sq ft or smaller)

Best Large Store (3,001-10,000 sq ft)

There are also a number of special category awards to recognise outstanding achievement in one of the key disciplines of convenience retailing, and the opportunity to nominate products that have made a major contribution to retailers’ businesses during the past year. These are:

Responsible Retailing Award, sponsored by Imperial Tobacco

Best Chilled Food Retailer, sponsored by Muller Dairy & Muller Wiseman

Best Customer Service, sponsored by Bestway

Community Retailer of the Year, sponsored by PayPoint

Off Licence Store of the Year, sponsored by Pernod Ricard

Best Use of Technology, sponsored by The Retail Data Partnership

Energy-efficient Store of the Year, sponsored by npower

Excellence in Impulse Award, sponsored by Britvic

National Lottery Retailer of the Year, sponsored by Camelot

Product of the Year, sponsored by Best One

Zero Tolerance Award for Crime Prevention

Best New Store

Best Communication to Shoppers

Convenience Store Team Prize

The Convenience Retail Awards presentation and dinner will take place on Thursday March 6, 2014 at The Grange, St Paul’s, London. All national award and special award finalists will be invited with a guest to attend the awards dinner on a complimentary basis.

How to enter

All entries must be made on an official entry form. You can:

Web: Enter online at www.cr-awards.co.uk

Call: Lucy McDonald on 01293 610439

Email: lucy.mcdonald@wrbm.com

Entries must be received by Friday November 15