By Craig Zammit
SYDNEY: Clive Peeters Moonah has been announced as the Electrical Retailing Awards (ERA) Tasmanian Store of the Year and is now in the running to win the Australian Store of the Year to be announced at the 2007 ERA Awards.
The Moonah premises became the thirteenth Clive Peeters store opened in Australia when it began operation 11 months ago, with the store hoping 13 will become its lucky number when the ERA Award for Australian Store of the Year is presented on Friday 13 April at the Sofitel Wentworth, Sydney.
“The store has been fantastic for Tasmania and the attitude of the staff is great,” Clive Peeters Moonah store manager, Stephen Lou, told Current.com.au
“The phrase I use is that the store has a Clive Peeters culture, the staff love working in that culture and it has been that way since the start.
“When I announced we had won [Tasmanian store of the year] at our staff meeting, you’ve never seen anything like it, the staff just lit up like a roman candle. Tasmania doesn’t always get recognised and so it’s such a thrill for the team,” he said.
Lou believes infrastructure and customer service are two of the key factors in the stores success.
“The layout of the store is very open and unique and we have our own warehouse attached to the store, which cuts down lead times and I think it gives us a bit of an advantage over our competitors.
“We also carry the biggest range of anyone in Tasmania, and that’s in all products – whether its whitegoods, browngoods, kitchen or anything else. We look after our customers and our service is great – I think our customers recognise that here.
With seven finalists for the Australian Store of the Year Award, the Moonah location will represent the only Clive Peeters candidate in the running for the award.
“They have a magnificent showroom; I’ve never seen one of good as it. It’s totally different to anything in Tasmania,” Electric World Retravision proprietor, Jake Shivas, told current.com.au last year upon the opening of the Clive Peeters Moonah store.
The ERA State Store of the Year awards are determined by over 100 industry suppliers and judge on customer appeal, staff knowledge, local marketing initiative, buying and operational efficiencies and sales success.
The Australian Store of the Year ERA is one of the four major awards to be announced on the night, with the other major Awards including Product of the Year, Supplier of the Year and Retail Organisation of the Year.
The ERA Awards combine the efforts of the electrical retailing industry’s leading trade publication – Appliance Retailer, as well as the industry’s leading data provider – GfK Australia, in conjunction with a national judging panel representing a cross section of the industry’s leading retailers and the major suppliers and manufacturers.