At the very heart of it, the fundamental difference between local retailing and every other sector comes down to one simple thing: our people. Everything that makes our sector so critical to every community in Scotland can be boiled down to the people who work in our stores all day long, seven days a week.
It’s our people who create, develop and sustain that unique relationship that our stores enjoy with the communities we serve. It’s our people that are the real reason behind our continued success through thick and thin, through the occasional good times and through the more frequent tough times.
And that is precisely why the SLR Above & Beyond Awards are so special to us. They provide a unique opportunity to recognise, celebrate and honour the amazing people working in our stores. The real heroes of our sector.
Yes, owners and managers are critical to the success of our businesses. Their vision and resilience and commitment and passion mean many thousands of stores across Scotland continue to survive and succeed. But those same owners and managers would be the first to admit that none of their success would be possible without their teams – the colleagues on the shopfloor and behind the till and in the delivery vehicles.
What’s remarkable is that many of these colleagues don’t settle for just turning up, doing their job and going home. An incredible amount of them routinely go above and beyond the basic job requirements. And that’s what the Above & Beyond Awards were created to recognise. Our sector is simply packed with very wonderful, caring and compassionate people who go way above and beyond to look after their colleagues, customers and communities.
The tales we heard at last month’s Awards were often hard to take in. There was joy and there were tears – plenty of them – and that’s not something you see at too many industry awards ceremonies. That tells us everything we need to know. That room full of heroes deserves the attention and the recognition, and their stories need to be told and shared.
The world needs to know how vital local retailing is and how blessed the sector is with good, decent, hard-working, caring people. In today’s increasingly unfathomable world, it’s absolutely vital that we remind ourselves – and everyone else – that local retailing is not like other sectors. It is truly unique, and that’s down to our people. We need to look after them because they sure as hell look after us.
Antony Begley, Publishing Director, SLR
The real heroes of local retailing
At the very heart of it, the fundamental difference between local retailing and every other sector comes down to one simple thing: our people. Everything that makes our sector so critical to every community in Scotland can be boiled down to the people who work in our stores all day long, seven days a week.
It’s our people who create, develop and sustain that unique relationship that our stores enjoy with the communities we serve. It’s our people that are the real reason behind our continued success through thick and thin, through the occasional good times and through the more frequent tough times.
And that is precisely why the SLR Above & Beyond Awards are so special to us. They provide a unique opportunity to recognise, celebrate and honour the amazing people working in our stores. The real heroes of our sector.
Yes, owners and managers are critical to the success of our businesses. Their vision and resilience and commitment and passion mean many thousands of stores across Scotland continue to survive and succeed. But those same owners and managers would be the first to admit that none of their success would be possible without their teams – the colleagues on the shopfloor and behind the till and in the delivery vehicles.
What’s remarkable is that many of these colleagues don’t settle for just turning up, doing their job and going home. An incredible amount of them routinely go above and beyond the basic job requirements. And that’s what the Above & Beyond Awards were created to recognise. Our sector is simply packed with very wonderful, caring and compassionate people who go way above and beyond to look after their colleagues, customers and communities.
The tales we heard at last month’s Awards were often hard to take in. There was joy and there were tears – plenty of them – and that’s not something you see at too many industry awards ceremonies. That tells us everything we need to know. That room full of heroes deserves the attention and the recognition, and their stories need to be told and shared.
The world needs to know how vital local retailing is and how blessed the sector is with good, decent, hard-working, caring people. In today’s increasingly unfathomable world, it’s absolutely vital that we remind ourselves – and everyone else – that local retailing is not like other sectors. It is truly unique, and that’s down to our people. We need to look after them because they sure as hell look after us.
Antony Begley, Publishing Director, SLR
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