Henderson Retail, the company which owns over 80 SPAR and EUROSPAR branded stores in Northern Ireland, is the only NI retailer to be shortlisted amongst the best of the global FMCG industry for the annual IGD Awards.

The awards celebrate the biggest and best achievements in the industry through four strands; Business Excellence, People, Personal Development and Sustainable Business, and Henderson Retail appears on the shortlist twice for the first time this year.

The company, operating as part of the Henderson Group from its headquarters in Mallusk, has been shortlisted in the Small Store of the Year (Business Excellence) and the John Sainsbury Learning & Development (Personal Development) categories.

The £2.7m SPAR Fortfield store which opened at the end of 2018 will take on stores from Copenhagen, Brussels, Shanghai, London and Dublin for Small Store of the Year, and the company’s Leadership Development Programme will go up against Aldi Stores UK, Booker Group and Procter & Gamble UK in the Learning and Development category, which seeks to reward a company that delivers learning and development creatively with a clear impact.

Henderson Group’s Retail Director, Mark McCammond says this is a huge recognition of their work from the past year; “The IGD Awards are prestigious within the industry and while Henderson Retail has been acknowledged in the Personal Development strand in previous years, this is the first time a Henderson Retail store has been recognised in the Store categories.

“We are extremely proud to be the only locally based retailer in the running, and for SPAR Fortfield, our brand-new concept store which opened at the tail end of 2018 to be in the running against international retailers for Small Store of the Year.”

Mark says Henderson Retail, which has a Gold Standard accreditation by Investors in People, has made significant investments to advance its training and development programmes and facilities on site and throughout its network of retailers.

“In 2018, Henderson Retail managed 19 store openings, extensions and refurbishments, which requires strategic planning, resource and training. We have invested heavily in our ‘bricks and mortar’ store assets but also in developing the capability of our Retail team to make our network the most competitive in Northern Ireland.”

No strangers to UK and global industry award wins, Henderson Retail has also picked up accolades from The Convenience Retail Awards and The Retail Industry Awards in 2018, as well as the international FMI Store Manager Awards, which took place in the U.S in May 2018.

The 2019 IGD finalists will be presented to judges throughout September, and the awards ceremony will take place in London on Thursday 07 November.

To view the shortlist in full, visit igd.com and for more information about Henderson Retail, visit henderson-group.com/henderson-retail.

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