Staff at a Bury St Edmunds home and gift shop are celebrating today (Friday December 18) after their window display was judged to be the most festive in town – chosen for the first time by users of the Our Bury St Edmunds LoyalFree app instead of a local ‘mystery’ judge.
It means that LOFT & SPIRES at 61 Cornhill has won the annual competition for three of the last four years. Highly commended were florist Tudor Rose in Hatter Street and Javelin in Abbeygate Street both of whom have previously won the prestigious Our Bury St Edmunds Shield and are known for their stunning Christmas window displays.
LOFT & SPIRES’ winning window shows Father Christmas sitting in an armchair in front of a decorated fireplace, surrounded by gifts and with stockings stuffed with carrots hanging up for his reindeer. Romy Abraham who owns the shop said: “This year we wanted to give the feeling of a cosy traditional Christmas, putting aside all the misery of 2020. Although we were closed throughout November’s lockdown we hope our window provided some Christmas cheer and comfort to those passing by and I thank everyone who decided to vote for us.
“Moreover, all at LOFT & SPIRES send our heartfelt thanks to all our customers, old and new, who have been supporting us since re-opening by shopping locally – and, given these unprecedented times, we wish everyone as merry a Christmas as possible. This has been the most difficult time in 20 years of working in retail, because as well as the lockdowns much of our stock hasn’t even reached the shop because it’s been caught up in the delays at the Port of Felixstowe.”
The window at runner up Tudor Rose also featured in this year’s Bury Merry Christmas film from Our Bury St Edmunds which was made in lieu of a Christmas Lights Switch On event and supported by Bury St Edmunds Town Council. James Mortlock at Tudor Rose said: “We pride ourselves on the fact that we pulled out all the stops with our window to show the importance of independent shops to the High Street and Bury St Edmunds in particular. It’s had a great reaction and we thank everyone who voted – it’s brought some much needed Christmas cheer in a very difficult year.”
Last year’s winner, Javelin, was the other highly commended runner up. Manager Jane Lord commented: “After such a tough year we wanted to cheer people up with our window and make it as bright as we could. Like many other shops we had to close in November when we would normally be busy but we were delighted that our customers used the click and collect feature of our new website and also thank those who waited until we re-opened to support us too.”
LOFT & SPIRES will now hold the Our Bury St Edmunds Shield for the next year. It will be presented this morning (9.30am) by the Mayor of Bury St Edmunds Town Councillor Peter Thompson. The two runners up will be presented with certificates by Our Bury St Edmunds vice chairman Maria Broadbent.