Shannon Duty Free has scooped honours in the annual Retail Excellence Ireland Awards. The store, which has recently undergone a major revamp, has been named as ‘National Visitor Store’ of the Year and has also been named among the Top 5 Stores in Ireland for all retail.
The awards recognise the very best in retail excellence among the organisation’s 1,850 members who employ over 300,000 staff across all retail sectors in Ireland. They are judged and won on the basis of success across 10 pillars of excellence, including design, environment, product range and customer service as set out by Echo Chamber, a UK retail advisory group. Each store’s financial performance is also judged by Grant Thornton.
Shannon Duty Free’s success comes after an overall €40 million investment programme at Shannon Airport on a range of customer-focused projects. In recent years Shannon Duty Free shop has been totally redeveloped.
Andrew Murphy, Managing Director, Shannon Airport, said: “Shannon is steeped in retail history and since independence our Duty Free store has been on a journey to reposition itself, not only as a leading retail outlet in Ireland, but also to reset standards in the duty free industry itself.
“Our focus has been to create a store that is true to its sense of place in the West of Ireland, showcasing proudly the very best of authentic quality Irish products along with attracting new leading global brands in a design led environment.
“But, perhaps most importantly, these awards recognise the exceptional commitment to high standards that our staff have achieved on a daily basis in the store. It wouldn’t be possible to succeed without their continued hard work and contribution. We are extremely proud of them and the service they provide to consumers.”
Darren Smyth, Head of Commercial, Shannon Airport, added: “We are absolutely thrilled to receive these awards. It represents the huge effort made by our staff who have adopted Shannon’s ethos of continued growth and excellence of service. We have repositioned Shannon Duty Free as an industry exemplar in the industry. Our hard work will continue as all of our customers can look forward to the very best commercial experience when they fly and shop at Shannon.”
