Jon Cruddas MP is calling on small shopkeepers across Dagenham and Rainham to enter the Best Small Shops Competition, celebrating the creativity of small shops and the central role they play in their local community.
The Best Small Shops Competition is open to any small shop* operating in the UK. The competition is free to enter and all shops who enter will also be promoted to consumers through an online Indie Retail Directory.
Shopkeepers can nominate their businesses until Sunday 9th September via www.bestsmallshops.co.uk. A shortlist of 25 of the most impressive applications will be shortlisted by a panel made up of established representatives from the independent retail industry.
The judges will be looking for evidence of a small shops' entrepreneurial spirit, ways that they have been innovative in their business and what they have done to have a lasting positive impact on their community.
The shortlisted small shops will be invited to a Parliamentary Reception on the 13th November 2018 to meet their Member of Parliament and find out who will be crowned the Best Small Shop for 2018.
Jon Cruddas MP said: "this is an excellent initiative to recognise and celebrate the contribution small businesses make to our local economy. We have so many innovative small independent shops in our area and I hope many will take this opportunity and enter the competition."
Submit your entry
The entries for 2018's Best Small Shop competition are now open. Submit your entry at www.bestsmallshops.co.uk.
Entries close on Sunday 9th September 2018.
*For the purposes of the competition, a small shop is defined as a non-corporate business selling goods or services to the public for use or consumption rather than for resale, from a business rated premises in the UK.