A co-operative colleague in Lenham and a Welcome store in West Sussex have both made the final in a national retail award.
Jo Bates who works at The Co-operative Food – Lenham has been shortlisted for Customer Service Assistant of the Year in the 2020 Convenience Store Awards.
Welcome Southwater, which opened in January 2019, has been shortlisted for Best New Store in the awards which are run by a market-leading magazine for retailers, Convenience Store.
The award had an in-depth three stage judging process looking at entries from retailers across the country and winners will be announced at an award ceremony in May.
Gill Kenward, Store Manager Training Mentor at The Co‑operative Food ‑ Lenham, said: “Jo is an outstanding Customer Sales Assistant and she is also an inspiration to anyone who is living with a serious health condition.
“She is in pain and discomfort a lot of the time but never ever complains. And you forget that she has difficulty walking because she doesn’t allow it to define her. We couldn’t be more thrilled that Jo has been selected!”
Word quickly got around the village that Jo had been nominated and before long customers began to send in letters explaining why she deserves to win the award.
One customer wrote: “Jo, in my view, is outstanding in her role. To me, she stands out because of her unfailingly cheerful, helpful, customer facing and open attitude. Her attitude is truly uplifting.”
Jo, who has worked in the Lenham store in Faversham Road since it opened in 2016, has mobility issues and suffers with a degenerative disease which affects some of her joints, particularly knees and ankles.
When she found out she had made the top three Jo said: “I have been married for 19 years and love working in the shop in the village where I have lived with my family for the past 20 years.
“The customers are lovely and have supported me in the competition process. We are a little family and team who all work well together. I’d like to say thank you to everyone who has supported me and a massive thank you to Gill for nominating me.”
The successful Southwater store showcases Southern Co-op’s Welcome franchise brand which includes renowned Co-op own-label products that offers choice, quality and ethical standards.
The 2,600 sqft store, in Worthing Road, was transformed from a previous car showroom which was moved to other connecting premises.
Owner and franchisee Visvanathan Ragunathan said: “They love the quality and ethical stance of the Co-op and already our fresh food sales are exceeding our expectations. We would also like to say special thanks to the Franchise team at Southern Co-op for the extraordinary support during our opening weeks, we couldn’t have done better without them.”
Southern Co-op now has 34 franchise stores operating under the ‘Welcome’ fascia across the south of England.
To find out more about Southern Co-op’s employment opportunities, visit www.southernco-opjobs.co.uk/jobs/. Or to find out more about Southern Co-op’s franchise opportunities, visit www.southernco-op.co.uk/food/franchise.