Napier City Awards winners announced

STOKED: General Manager of the Art Deco Trust, Sally Jackson, said restoration work occurring within the Art Deco Quarter in Napier was exceptional. PHOTO FILE

Fourteen winners of the Napier City Awards were recognised at a special awards ceremony held at the MTG Hawke's Bay last night.

The awards, which were co-ordinated by the Art Deco Trust and Napier City Business Inc, highlighted excellent examples of restoration across a range of heritage buildings as well as recognising those retailers in the CBD who provide an outstanding service for their customers.

General manager of the Art Deco Trust Sally Jackson said the large number of awards was exceptional and emphasised the huge amount of preservation and restoration work occurring within the Art Deco Quarter in Napier.

She added that the awards were an excellent way to showcase positive changes within the city and emphasised good examples of business signage and quality renovations to heritage buildings.

Zoe Barnes, manager of Napier City Business said "retail is the life blood of any town centre, and we wanted to take the time to recognise those that go the extra mile, and work tirelessly to ensure Napier CBD is both vibrant and friendly".

Napier City Business recognised that while there are the chamber of commerce business awards, and the Hawke's Bay hospitality awards, the retail sector was not represented and as such they wanted to provide an opportunity for locals to thank those businesses who work so hard.

The awards were facilitated by way of a peer review system, with all 400 businesses within the Napier City Business membership given the opportunity to vote firstly for their chosen finalist, and then finally the winner.

"We have had an amazing number of votes come through from our membership, which is a fantastic outcome and shows a huge amount of appreciation within our business community"

The finalists are all a good reflection of both independent and chain stores within the CBD, with Spex Eyewear winning "Outstanding sales team", Kilt Clothing winning "Outstanding chain store", Two Lippy Ladies taking out "Outstanding independent retail store", Madisons winning "Best Ambiance and Style" and finally, Alexanders, going in to his fourth decade in retail winning "Overall outstanding retail store".

The second component of the Retail Awards is the People's Choice category, which was run exclusively on Facebook (@napiercity). Ms Barnes said she was amazed at the number of votes that came in for this category, with voters numbering over 1000. The winner was once again relative newcomers to the CBD, Two Lippy Ladies.

The NZME building, the Napier office of Hawke's Bay Today, was awarded an Art Deco Trust Supreme Award for its commitment to the preservation of a Napier landmark and was recognised for the significant enhancing of Napier's Art Deco character.

Also recognised in the building category was Hapi and The Rose Irish for their building restorations. Hapi has brought back its original ceiling profile and The Rose Irish has restored the Terrazzo facade decoration.

Napier City Business Inc - 2016 Retail Awards
Outstanding Sales Team - Spex Eyewear
Outstanding Retail Chain Store - Kilt
Outstanding Independent Retail Store - Two Lippy Ladies
Best Ambience and Style - Madisons
Overall Outstanding Retail Store - Alexander's Menswear
People's Choice - Two Lippy Ladies.

ART DECO TRUST AWARDS
For excellence in Business Signage
Wardini Books
Bistronomy
Monica Loves
Hapi

Facade restoration
Halsbury Chambers
NZME Building

Building Restoration

The Rose Irish
Hapi