The Community Initiative of the Year category recognises an idea or initiative carried out by a retailer/store team that has helped their local community. Have you helped your community in a big way? Have you come up with a new idea to help groups near you? We want to hear from you. Entries must show how the store team has identified a particular issue in their community and worked to help remedy/overcome it.

Before you enter:

• Have you seen an issue in the community and helped overcome it?
• Can you display in detail the investment (time, money or otherwise) that went into tackling the issue
• Can you provide evidence positive impact of the initiative in the community?

If the answers are yes, enter now!

Your entry should describe how you are working with your store to help better your local community or the area surrounding your store.

The Community Retailer of the Year category is open to all retailers who care about their local areas and want to use every resource at their disposal to help it.

Before you enter, have you:

• Knowledge of an issue affecting your community and how you’ve helped tackle it between May 2023 and May 2024?
• Links to the local community beyond the traditional retailer/customer relationship?
• Made investments (financial or otherwise) in the community?
• Evidence of employing from within the community?
• Working with local charities and groups to improve the community?

If the answers are yes, enter now!

The Convenience Rising Star Award is open to retailers of all ages who have opened their first store or become manager in the past three years (between May 2021 and May 2024). As well as examining sales results and customer engagement, the judging panel will be looking for examples of innovation from entrants, particularly around taking a new approach to any retailing challenge.

Before you enter, are you or do you know someone:

• That has an enthusiastic and innovative approach to convenience retailing, be it overall or overcoming a specific challenge?
• Has the ambition to want to improve the entire sector with their ideas and work ethic?
• Can provide evidence of how their approach has benefited the business from a financial and engagement point of view
• Who has opened their first store or become a store manager between May 2021 and May 2024?

If the answers are yes, enter now!

With crimes against retailers and their staff rising, this award seeks to highlight store owners that have introduced new ways of tackling crime in their store and worked with their communities to reduce anti-social behaviour.

Entries must demonstrate:

• Engagement with the wider community including police and local authorities
• Introduced an innovative approach to tackling crime in your store, which could include investment in technology, staff training and practices
• Created an effective system of logging and reporting crimes in your store
• Seen a marked reduction in crime at your store

If the answers are yes, enter now!

Convenience stores have a big opportunity to satisfy customers and build sales with a compelling food to go offer, including sandwiches, hot food, impulse items and drinks to go, with solutions for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks throughout the day. This award will celebrate the leader in the field.

Before you enter, does your store:

• Have strong sales results in food to go (evidence of contribution to store’s overall figures needed) for the period between May 2023 and May 2024
• Have a working waste management plan
• Have a marketing plan for its food to go offering at various times of the day
• Have a broad offering that incorporates multiple categories
• Innovate within the category

If the answers are yes, enter now!

A single store or part of a group of 9 stores or fewer under the same ownership, trading under a symbol or retailer’s own brand; (1,500 – 3,000sq ft in size).

Before you enter, has your store:

• Seen sales growth over the past 12 months (period between May 2023 and May 2024)?
  
• Seen investment to improve its offering?
• Examples of key product categories/store strengths?
• An engaged customer base?
• High store standards (appearance, cleanliness availability, POS, staffing)?
• A point of difference to the competition?
• A strong use of digital (social media, online presence)?
• Lots of exciting additional services (home delivery etc)?

If the answers are yes, enter now!

Any store larger than 3,000sq ft in selling space, regardless of ownership or retail brand.

Before you enter, has your store:

• Seen sales growth over the past 12 months (the period between May 2023 and May 2024)?
• Seen investment to improve its offering?
• Examples of key product categories/store strengths?
• An engaged customer base?
• High store standards (appearance, cleanliness availability, POS, staffing)?
• A point of difference to the competition?
• A strong use of digital (social media, online presence)?
• Lots of exciting additional services (home delivery etc)?

If the answers are yes, enter now!

Part of a group of 10 stores or more under the same ownership, or any store trading under a retail brand as part of a franchise programme; (1,500 – 3,000sq ft in size).

Before you enter, has your store:

• Seen sales growth over the past 12 months (period between May 2023 and May 2024)?
• Seen investment to improve its offering?
• Examples of key product categories/store strengths?
• An engaged customer base?
• High store standards (appearance, cleanliness availability, POS, staffing)?
• A point of difference to the competition?
• A strong use of digital (social media, online presence)?
• Lots of exciting additional services (home delivery etc)?

If the answers are yes, enter now!

This award is open to stores that have opened from scratch between May 2023 and May 2024. This award will be given to the store which, in the opinion of the judges, is the best example of a modern convenience store and is open to stores of all sizes, and any ownership structure.

Before you enter:

• Have sales have performed strongly against projections for the store since opening?
• Have you introduced new innovations to your business in this new store?
• Have you successfully marketed the changes to your customers?
• Overcome competition in your area?
• Can explain what learnings from previous sites were brought to this one?

If the answers are yes, enter now!

This award is open to stores that have undergone a significant remodelling, during the period between May 2023 and May 2024. This award will be given to the store which, in the opinion of the judges, is the best example of a modern convenience store and is open to stores of all sizes, and any ownership structure.

Before you enter:

• Have sales have performed against projections for the store since the refit?
• Have you introduced new innovations to your business as part of the refit?
• Have you successfully marketed the changes to your customers?
  
• Overcome competition in the area?
• Can explain what learnings from previous sites/formats were brought to this one?

If the answers are yes, enter now!

With the explosion of the vape category, retailers are facing more pressure than ever to ensure that the products they’re selling are ending up in the right hands. Despite this added pressure, many retailers are acting responsibly and doing the right thing for their customers and communities. This award seeks to highlight the amazing work being done by these retailers.

Before you enter, do you have:

• Proof of clear practices to ensure responsible retailing within tobacco, vape, alcohol, gambling categories covering both age-related sales and the illicit trade?
• Examples of collaboration with other parties in your area (local council, trading standards teams, community groups)?
• Examples of staff training on responsible retailing?
• Evidence of any innovative approaches or ideas to tackle underage sales introduced between May 2023 to May 2024?

If the answers are yes, enter now!

This is a unique opportunity to share the fantastic work achieved by team members who go the extra mile to help their local communities, raise money for national/local charities, and demonstrates impressive entrepreneurial spirit by suggesting profit-generating ideas.

Before you enter, do you, or does one of your team have:

• Excellent customer service by going above and beyond the ‘sale’?
• Responsibilities in the business that make them essential to the store?
• Experience of mentoring others in the business ideas that have helped the store become a bigger part of the community?
• Experience of fundraising activities that they have created and delivered successfully?

If the answers are yes, enter now!

NEW FOR 2025

Candidates must upload a video of themselves introducing themselves, where they work, what their job means to them and why it’s important to go beyond the sale in convenience. Candidates can also speak about the ideas they’ve implemented and how they’ve helped their communities.

Videos should be no longer that five minutes long.

Any store smaller than 1,500sq ft in selling space, regardless of ownership or retail brand.

Before you enter, have you:

• Seen sales growth at your store over the past 12 months?
• Invested in the business?
• Seen key product categories/store strengths improve?
• Engaged positively with your customer base?
• Got evidence of high store standards (appearance, cleanliness availability, POS, staffing)?
• Got a store with a point of difference to the competition?
• Used digital (social media, online presence) successfully?
• Got some exciting additional offers (home delivery etc)?

If the answers are yes, enter now!