Leading symbol group, Spar has taken home the Convenience Chain of the Year award at the 2023 Drinks Retailing Awards (DRAs), which took place at at London's Dorchester Hotel.
The awards celebrated a range of dynamic supermarkets, convenience chains and regional stores, all of which are championing drinks and helping the off-trade thrive.
The award for Spar come after making its expansive own-brand wine range vegan friendly, and winning nearly 200 medals for its wines.
Adam Georgiou, Spar UK Senior Brand Manager, enthused, “We are thrilled to have won Convenience Drinks Retailer of the Year at the Drinks Retailing Awards. The DRAs have a huge reputation for being one of the most highly respected competitions in the trade due to the calibre of entrants, nominees and the judging process.
“The rigorous judging process included exclusive consumer research based on perceived value, quality of the shopping experience, innovation, ranging, out of stocks and new product selection. This information was considered alongside sales and market trend data.
“This win is a great testament to the efforts of all our Off Licence traders at the Spar RDCs and the team at Central Office,” Adam concluded.
Lucy Britner, Drinks Retailing Editor, added, “It’s not often the drinks industry looks to the convenience sector for category leadership but that has been the case with SPAR over the past year.
'The retailer has completed a move to make all of its private-label wines vegan-friendly, which is a huge achievement given the number of wines and the scale of the business.
'The initiative came in a year when the chain as a whole enjoyed new brand positioning around the concept of The Joy of Living Locally. Congratulations to the BWS team for this well-deserved win.”
A range of wines are available in 1,700 licensed Spar stores in England, Scotland and Wales subject to availability.