Great Yarmouth baby store beats big boys to national prize
Cribs and Bibs shop in Great Yarmouth has won the Best Retailer Initiative prize, as part of the 2015 Progressive Preschool awards. They beat national stores House of Fraser, John Lewis and Sainsbury's to the award. Owner Shane Hynes with the award.Picture: James Bass - Credit: Eastern Daily Press © 2015
A small independent store prevailed over its giant competition to win a national prize.
Cribs and Bibs, based on King Street, in Great Yarmouth, has won the Best Retailer Initiative prize, as part of the 2015 Progressive Preschool awards.
The store was nominated for their 'by appointment service' which provides a personal shopper experience to their customers.
Shane Hynes, 35, and his partner, Hayley Youd, 34, picked up the gong after conquering its competition which included national stores House of Fraser, John Lewis and Sainsbury's.
Mr Hynes, said: 'When it came to our award I was not really paying attention I thought we had no chance, so to win the award I was absolutely gob smacked.
'Me and Hayley only opened the store in Great Yarmouth because there was a gap in the market, we never thought that one day it would go on to us being invited to a venue like the Dorchester Hotel in London, and winning an award when against such huge stores.'
The store was nominated for the award by one of their suppliers which came to the surprise of the owners who opened the store after the birth of their daughter Shaynie.
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Their 'by-appointment' looks to offer customers a service that provides one-to-one support, advice and information that helps them with their shopping experience.
The store has received a lot of praise for their work both as a shop selling a wide-range of products for babies, but also for its work with charity and by offering bouncy castles for parties.
The couple picked up the award at the Dorchester Hotel in London last Thursday.
Mr Hynes, said: 'We spoke to a few people at the venue who had such great praise for the work that we do.
'We spoke to one of the judges at the after show party and from what it sounded like out of the 20 or so judges we won by a landslide.
'They had a lot of nice things to say about the work that we do and our work with charity, and were impressed at what we have achieved in comparison to these massive stores we were up against who have massive budgets.
'You hear a lot of negative comments about Great Yarmouth's town centre, but if you think about this and the new stores that have been opening up like Pandora, there are some good news stories.'
