THE Shannon Duty Free operation became the latest contributor to a remarkable run of awards for the Shannon Group of companies when it took top honours at this year’s Retail Excellence Ireland Awards.
The famous store, which has recently undergone a major revamp, was named ‘National Visitor Store of the Year’ at the prestigious awards ceremony in Killarney last week. In addition to the award, Shannon Duty Free was also included among the top five retail outlets in Ireland.
The awards recognise the very best in retail excellence among the 1,850 member organisations who employ more than 300,000 staff across all retail sectors in Ireland.
They are judged on the basis of success across ten pillars of excellence, including design, environment, product range and customer service. Their financial performance is also judged by Grant Thornton.
Shannon Duty-Free’s success comes after a €40 million investment programme at Shannon Airport on a range of customer-focused projects. In recent years, the Duty-Free shop has been totally redeveloped.
Airport managing director Andrew Murphy said the rewards recognise the exceptional commitment to high standards applied by staff of Shannon.
“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 the best of authentic quality Irish products along with attracting new leading global brands in a design led environment.
“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.”
Head of Commercial Operations Darren Smyth said the awards reflected the huge effort made by the Duty Free 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 customers can look forward to the very best commercial experience when they fly and shop at Shannon,” he said.
by Tom McCullough
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