Natural Health Welwyn has been celebrating winning two accolades in the Welwyn Garden Awards, organized by The Welwyn Garden City Town Centre Partnership.
The health store and therapy centre won both Best Independent Retailer and The People Favourite Award, as well as being runner-up in the Customer Service category in the awards which celebrate, recognize and promote shopping, eating and customer service experience in Welwyn Garden City town centre.
Owner Julie Goodwin and staff at the Natural Health Welwyn collected the awards at a ceremony held in October at John Lewis. “I am absolutely delighted,” says Goodwin. “It was really good because it’s for the staff too as they’re being recognized for how good they are. I do place a lot of emphasis on customer service and it’s paid off. It’s really important to me – in fact part of my staff bonuses are based on the results of secret shoppers which I have quite regularly as they help highlight any potential areas that perhaps we don’t see and also recognize some really good customer service that people have experienced.”
The customers like to get involved too, so Goodwin offered a 12% discount if anybody came in and sang ‘We are the champions’. “We had the busiest two days ever – it was phenomenal!” she said.
Goodwin believes the awards are important for the town. “It’s nice that it’s a local award because things aren’t that easy – it’s a good way to get people back onto the high street. Quite often people think that Welwyn Garden City is full of chains and big department stores so it’s nice to see support for the many small businesses here and that’s what makes Welwyn unique because there are a lot less independent shops around now.”
