Stratford business named Taranaki's Top Shop for 2021

Story by Stuff 

A Stratford hardware store has been named Taranaki’s best shop for 2021 at the Witt Top Shop Gala Awards on Saturday.

Before being named supreme winner the Stratford ITM store won the Large Format Store Award, Accessibility Award, and Central Taranaki Regional Award.

The North Taranaki Regional Award was won by Caci Clinic, which also took out the Health and Beauty Award.

Ben Thomas Panelbeating in Hāwera was the winner of the Automotive Award and the South Taranaki Regional Award.

The Witt sponsored awards, which recognise customer service excellence, were organised by the Taranaki Chamber of Commerce.

Excellence in customer service was the core of business success, chamber CEO Arun Chaudhari said in a press release.

Witt chief executive John Snook said the Top Shop Awards fit with the training institute’s purpose in the community.

“It’s our job to provide the workforce that Taranaki needs," he said in a press release.

“We support the Top Shop Awards as a way of supporting a strong and vibrant Taranaki business community.”

More than 13,500 nominations from the public were received and the top 10 businesses in each category were then visited by mystery shoppers for judging.

The top points scorers were then re-judged by another panel to determine the Regional and Supreme winners.

The eight category winners are:

Large Format Store; Stratford ITM

Fashion, Footwear & Accessories; Footloose.

Food & Beverage; Kitchen Table.

Specialty Store; Bianca Lorenne.

Automotive; Ben Thomas Panelbeating.

Lifestyle & Leisure; Poppies.

Health & Beauty; Caci Clinic.

Accessibility, Winner Stratford ITM.