Jake Shoes Win ‘Children’s Independent Footwear Retailer’ at Footwear Industry Awards!
The Jake Shoes team are jumping for joy this morning, after scooping their first ever Footwear Industry Award. Winners of the ‘Best Children’s Independent Footwear Retailer’ category, the store was also named as ‘Highly Commended’ in two other categories; ‘Independent Family Footwear Retailer of the Year’ and ‘Fashion Independent Footwear Retailer of the Year.’
The glitzy black-tie awards ceremony was hosted at Solihull’s National Conference Centre on Sunday 21stFebruary. Jake himself collected the coveted award, a well-deserved prize after the brand enjoyed a fantastic year in 2015.
With independent shops in dramatic decline and last year’s closures occurring at a ‘disastrous rate’ as reported in The Independent, Jake Shoes is defying the odds and continuing to go from strength-to-strength. August saw the shop celebrate its 40thyear in trading and now the team are beginning 2016 with a bang, by receiving such a highly-regarded industry award.
Jake Shoes stock big-name brands alongside smaller independent labels, and specialise in children’s footwear. The stores have enjoyed particular success with certain lines -including their huge range of Lelli Kelly kids’ shoes, which have flown off the shelves ever since they first arrived.
Now in their fifth year, the Footwear Industry Awards recognise outstanding performance within the footwear industry, and serve as an opportunity to promote the hard work and efforts of retailers. Every year, the awards are sponsored by a number of big-name brands and the Jake Shoes team took full-advantage of the networking opportunity; catching up with some key figures in the industry, as well as other esteemed retailers.
Jake Bland, owner of Jake Shoes, said “We’re overjoyed with the win and would like to say a huge thank you to everyone that voted for us and all of our loyal customers. As an independent, competition can be tough, but the people of Stockport and Manchester have always supported us. It’s times like these that the support really does pay off.”
As 2015 was the first ever year to see more UK-based independents closing down rather than opening up, it’s reassuring to see that with hard work and local support, success is still viable for these types of business.
Notes for Editors
1) Jake Shoes is an independent, family-run footwear retailer that celebrated its 40thyear of trading. With products sourced from all over the world, the stores specialise in individual and independent labels, as well as some big-name brands.
2) Jake Shoes has two stores; its flagship branch in Stockport and its newest branch in Manchester’s Arndale Centre.
3) The Footwear Industry Awards are organised in association with the British Footwear Association (BFA), Independent Footwear Retailers Association (IFRA), the Society of Shoe Fitters and industry magazine, Footwear Today.
4) Additional press materials and information can be obtained by contacting Canada Berryman, Content Writer at K2L Marketing on canada@k2l.co.uk or 0161 848 9008.
Images available on request.
Visit: www.jakeshoes.co.uk