Entries for the Yates Garden Centre of the Year 2010 open this month. This is a great opportunity for every NGIA retailer to have their stores assessed and evaluated by professional retail consultants.

Some of the comments from the 2008 entrants point to good reasons to enter:

• To benchmark our business against others in the industry
• Because of our past involvement and good result, entering this competition gave us the information needed to know if our standards had slipped
•  ... we entered knowing we would be criticised and therefore it helped us recognise our shortfalls
•  The main reason was to get an independent overview of our business habits, routine and accepted retailing procedures 
•  ... have a better idea of where we are at compared to like businesses on a national level. I never expected to make the top ten.

In November or March, all entrants will be visited by Brett and Associates to carry out a full appraisal of the business. In addition, there will a mystery shop of the store. From the results of these assessments, a group of finalists will be selected for a second appraisal and mystery shop in Autumn. Every entrant will receive a detailed appraisal report.

Special prizes similar to the 2008 competition will be awarded, and these and the Yates Award will be presented at the Awards Dinner of the 2010 conference in Christchurch, on the 30th July.

This year we are relying on you to nominate yourselves so an entry form is enclosed with this newsletter. After we have received your form, we will confirm your entry and supply information outlining the competition programme and prizes. The closing date for entries is 20 November.

For more information, contact Frances 04 9183511, frances@ngia.co.nz