Flower Shop of The Year
The Advertiser, Thursday, 21st September, 2006
Everything was smelling of roses for Lanark florist Lisa Wilson this week, after she heard she was one of the country’s top two florists.
Lisa, who runs Floral ‘n’ Hardy in the towns High Street, has just won the Gold Award for Excellence in the Flower Shop of the Year Awards, the biggest awards in the industry.
She is one of only two Scottish florists, along with another 30 from across the rest of the UK, to be awarded the Gold.
All 32 are now vying for the top accolade, that of Britain’s florist of the Year.
Winning Gold is absolutely brilliant a huge motivational boost, said Lisa this week, adding: and to be one of the top 32 florists is fantastic.
Everyone in the business has made a huge contribution. We’ve just got to keep on our toes now, and we could go all the way.
Having passed the tests of mystery visitors and telephone callers to achieve their Gold Award, they still have some more hard tests in front of them.
Floral ‘n’ Hardy will be submitting a final written entry, covering every aspect of their business, and they will also be interviewed at their shop to discuss their plans for their future.
From this small but elite group there will be a £1,000 prize for each of the Flowergram, Interflora, Teleflorist and Independent Flower Shop of the Year and Floral ‘n’ Hardy hope to be the Teleflorist winner.
If they achieve that accolade, or are runners-up they win a Platinum Award of Excellence, and then go forward with the other finialists and runners-up with the potential to be crowned Flower Shop of the Year National Champion.
Floral ‘n’ Hardy is a real family affair and June, Lisa’s mum and business partner, added: Every-one involved in the business is up for this. It’s all about confidence and self-belief now, and keeping all our standards consistently high, she said.