Decorative materials supplier Kent Blaxill has won a Farrow & Ball award for Best In-store Presentation – against international competition.

Chris Wood, head of sales at Farrow & Ball, made the announcement at the Farrow & Ball Stockist Awards Night, which was held at the Haven Hotel in Dorset on 9 June.

Kent Blaxill was judged on the recently revamped display at its Melton/Woodbridge branch. With competing stockists based in the USA, Canada, and Europe, other finalists came from Germany and France.

Kent Blaxill was represented at the awards evening by Ron McConnachie, commercial director; Jane Collins, Melton branch manager; Lyndsey O’Dowd, from Melton; and Sally Dewar from the Bury St Edmunds branch.

“The decision was apparently very close with some fantastic displays from the European finalists,” said Mr McConnachie. “The judges in the end were particularly impressed by the transformation at Melton, where sales have increased 42% since the revamp.

“The judging criteria included the ‘wow’ factor at the stockist whose in-store presentation reflects the premium nature of the Farrow & Ball brand and delivers an outstanding consumer experience, with a dedicated F&B window and/or in-store displays.”

Mr McConnachie continued: “The award shows that we are getting the balance right in our new branch layouts between trade and retail products, with both trade and retail manufacturers being very complimentary.

“Several Kent Blaxill staff were involved with the project: thank you to Jill Blaxill who designed and implemented the display, Chris Barton for project managing the branch revamp, and Jane Collins and her team at the Melton branch who kept the store open throughout the transformation.”