VisionR at the Retail Excellence Ireland Awards 2024

The Retail Excellence Ireland Awards are the biggest night of the year for Irish Retail and VisionR proudly sponsored the event, on what was the most well-attended awards show yet. The host Hector announced towards the end of the night that there were 550 attendees this year, which was a record, at the event now held in the vast ballroom of the Galmont Hotel and Spa in Galway City Centre. 

Myself and Farouq Ayofe represented VisionR, sharing a table with ambassadors from Ecco Shoes and TapCreative. There was excitement and elation at the table as one of the Ecco team, Maria Driscoll, won the Unsung Hero of the Year award, leading to us all standing up and congratulating her, jubilantly.

The award ceremony kicked off at 7pm and ended promptly at 11pm, with some great comedic set pieces from Hector Ó hEochagáin, including anecdotes on how he rushed from working in the Caribbean to be in Galway for the event, and an impromptu rave with several attendees he plucked from the audience. 

Jean McCabe, the CEO at Retail Excellence was a delight, making sure to speak with as many attendees as possible in the ballroom and the foyer. Speeches were made from Fine Gael TD for Galway, Hildegard Naughton, on the difficulties the retail sector face from the recent government-announced budget. 

The award I presented was for Jewellery Store of the Year, which went to Stonechat Jewellers of Dublin 2. I handed the award to Ann Chapman, who brought her entire team with her up on stage to collect the award. The team were ecstatic and made the loudest collective cheer of the night, other than maybe the award for retailer of the year, which went to Diamond Furniture. 

William Diamond was presented his award after a humorously long animated countdown on the large screen behind Hector. He very humbly accepted the award, placing a large amount of the credit to his team, who he said have overcome many challenges throughout the 25 years they’ve been in business. 

The chair of Retail Excellence Ireland commented that Diamond Furniture has consistently surprised and impressed the organization with their innovation, atmosphere, and desire to improve in all areas of their operations. 

Overall, it was an incredible evening, and we look forward to returning to the awards in 2025, where VisionR will hopefully be able to contribute positively to the occasion again.