The shutters have come down on the Best Shops in Ireland nominations and now it’s time to get down to the business of counting votes and visiting shops.
We’ve had 27,876 nominations in total, so there’s a big challenge ahead for our team of secret shoppers and the judges.
Thanks for all the nominations, the heartfelt suggestions from the four corners of Ireland. Voters recognise what independent retailers do, the fact that when they’re good they become a focal point within a community.
They are the backbone of Irish life in both our rural and urban communities; they say hello when you cross the threshold, they know your name, the kind of things you like to buy and want to know how your mother is doing and how the kids are in Australia or Canada and if you’ve been out to see them.
It’s an ethos The Irish Times wants to continue to support the family businesses, the traditional shops and the entrepreneurs bringing new delights to tempt us to part with our money.
We’ve loved the pictures shopkeepers have sent in, the creative ways that they’ve canvassed for votes from their customers. A jewellers wrote the word ‘vote’ in bangles and necklaces, a seaside cafes asked its regulars to vote for it by scribbling it in the sands outside their premises, a nail salon made a nail art feature of the twitter competition handle; the haberdashery store that cafted up a Best Shops logo on an embroidered banner.
The competition is now closed. Judging begins tomorrow at 11am. A shortlist of 100 shops will be published in the Saturday Magazine on August 23rd. The winners will be announced on September 6th, also in the Saturday Magazine.
Thanks for taking part - the nominations for Best Shops are closed. We'll be working hard over the next few weeks to search the thousands of entries to find the very Best Shops in Ireland.