Stratford ITM wins top business award again

The Stratford ITM team.

Stratford ITM has been named Central Taranaki's best business for the second year in a row.

The business received the award during the TSB Top Shop Awards evening at the Devon Hotel on Saturday night.

The business was also highly commended in the large format category.

Stratford ITM is owned by Mike Henry and his wife Kym who employ more than 20 staff.

Kym says things are so flat out she didn't even realise they had been nominated for the award. This made receiving the award even more special as it meant they had not put in any special effort to wow mystery shoppers.

"The nicest part is that you are recognised for what you do on a day-to-day basis."

Kym says the shop has been going through a series of changes recently and she was worried their customer service had not been as good as usual. Changes included a new computer system as well as having a team member of 19 years leave.

"It's important to recognise our staff who do their best every day and go the extra mile.
Without them and our awesome customers who nominate us we wouldn't be here."

The awards recognise customer service excellence and are organised by the Taranaki Chamber of Commerce.

There were more than 13,500 nominations made by the public for the Taranaki top shop.
After this, the top 10 businesses in each category were judged by a panel of mystery shoppers who had a set criteria for marking. The top point scorers were then re-judged by another panel to determine the regional and supreme winners.

Shoe Clinic, on Devon St East in New Plymouth, was announced as the supreme winner of the 2018 awards.

Stratford's Central Taranaki Automotive received a highly commended in the automotive category of the awards.