THE Highworth Emporium has been selected as a finalist in The Greats Gift Retailer Awards 2018.

The Greats Awards, now in their 16th year, were launched by Progressive Gifts & Home magazine to recognise the UK’s best gift retailers.

The awards celebrate the top independent and multiple gift retailers regionally and nationally, and highlight the work of outstanding retail employees.

Highworth Emporium co-owner Aga Gabrysiak said: “It’s extremely exciting and rewarding to hear that we are doing things right and we are impressing industry experts in just our second year.

“It would wonderful if we win but competition is strong so really it’s hard to tell.

“We are very customer oriented, trying to make everyone who comes to our shop special.

“We are very active in many local events, supporting charities and organisations that are important to our local community, we invest a lot of time attending trade shows and showrooms to make our product offer as appealing as possible to our customers

“We love what we do, and it’s an inner passion that is driving our success – we’re a small but dedicated team who all enjoy making our customers happy.”

Sue Marks, Editor of Progressive Gifts & Home said:”These dedicated awards for gift retailers have risen immeasurably in status over the years and are now universally acknowledged as being true accolades of excellence,

“Being selected as a finalist was a fantastic achievement, there was a huge entry this year, with some outstanding, first class entries.”

All retail finalists were decided as a result of an industry-wide poll of gift suppliers, reps and agents, and validation by a panel of experts.

The winners will be revealed on Thursday May 17.