DAYS after winning the city’s top business award and Bobbies Clothing owner Melissa Gregory says she is still in shock.
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The 2016 Crowe Horwath Carillon Business Awards was held in front of more than 500 of Bathurst’s most influential business people on Friday night.
Guests entered the Bathurst Showground pavilion for the awards on a red carpet to begin the celebrations.
Ms Gregory started Bobbies Clothing 24 years ago and she has stores in Bathurst and Orange.
Bobbies not only won the major award for the night, the Crowe Horwath Carillon Business Award, it also scored the Excellence in Small Business gong as well.
Ms Gregory was then presented with the Business Leader award.
“I’d no idea we’d even be a finalist,” she said.
She did admit she was overwhelmed to have won the first two categories, let alone win the top award of the night.
“It did not even occur to me when they called my name. You could have knocked me over with a feather,” Ms Gregory said.
Bobbies Clothing has changed a lot in the years since she first started the business Ms Gregory said, especially with the rise of internet shopping.
“Things have just changed so much in the retail game, Bobbies has just changed and evolved as it’s happened,” Ms Gregory said.
She said retailers, especially those targeting the “fickle” youth market, cannot afford to rest on their laurels.
“It’s about the in-store experience and really working on our customer relationships and trying really hard to know our customers by name,” Ms Gregory said.
She said the in-store experience for Bobbies customers must be fun, with the right music and the right stock to encourage people to keep coming back.
“We’re striving to be the best,” Ms Gregory said.