From a Seed of an Idea to an Awards Finalist

I was genuinely shocked and incredibly honoured to discover that Smart Shopkeeper Club has been named a finalist in The Retas Awards 2026 for Best Retailer Initiative.

What makes this especially meaningful to me is that Smart Shopkeeper Club didn’t begin as a polished plan or carefully mapped-out strategy.

It began as a response.

A response to what I was seeing happening across independent retail.
A response to the exhaustion many shopkeepers are quietly carrying.
A response to seeing brilliant independent shops struggling, overwhelmed or disappearing altogether.

And really, it all began with our most successful spring campaign ever inside my own shop.

Last year I’d wanted to create something that felt more meaningful and emotionally engaging for customers, but I also wanted to make it easier for other time-pressed independent retailers to create that same kind of atmosphere, engagement and momentum in their own shops too.

As I started sharing the campaign resources and ideas online, something unexpected happened.

Shopkeepers started responding emotionally to it all.

Not just because of the posters or displays, but because they felt properly seen for once. Seen in the realities, pressures, joys and challenges that come with running a real independent shop on a small scale.

And honestly, I think that’s something the wider business world often misses.

So I carried on.

I shared more ideas.
More campaigns.
More thoughts about this strange, exhausting, beautiful little world of independent retail that so many of us have devoted our lives to.

Then came Small Shop Summer, which grew into a much wider movement celebrating the colour, creativity and humanity independent shops bring to our high streets and communities.

I created free resources, posters, displays and social prompts designed to make it easier for independent retailers to join in without adding even more pressure to already overwhelmed lives.

And then our Female Founders Month campaign went on to win a Retas award. It was surreal and so exciting, I couldn’t believe that the idea was getting so much attention and applause. That encouragement gave me even more belief that this little thing I’d started truly mattered.

So I kept going.

I created extra in-shop resources to help amplify the Greeting Card Association’s already brilliant Thinking of You Week campaign. I wanted to make it even easier for customers to connect more deeply with the real people, emotions and stories behind the cards they were browsing in their fave indie shops. 

After attending the GCA retailer round table in London, even more ideas started bubbling away too.

Then came Christmas Starts With a Card and Christmas Starts in Small Shops, both designed to celebrate the emotion, ritual, warmth and human connection independent retailers help create during the festive season.

To see all of that recognised nationally by the greeting card industry honestly means a huge amount.

But what means even more is the kindness, encouragement and support I’ve received from so many fellow independent retailers and industry icons along the way.

Because this has never been about pretending I have all the answers.

There are incredible shopkeepers all over the country quietly doing brilliant things every single day, often with very little recognition for just how much hard work, creativity and resilience this life actually requires.

I’m simply trying to contribute my own little piece to that wider conversation.

And honestly, this still feels like only the beginning.

There’s another summer campaign coming very soon, and beyond that I have more ideas than I can currently keep up with. The only slight problem is that after putting them into practice, my own shop has become busier than ever, which is definitely the best kind of problem to have.

But if Smart Shopkeeper Club can help independent retailers feel a little more inspired, a little more supported and a little less alone along the way, then that already feels incredibly worthwhile to me.