Two awards for Kirkcaldy shop at heart of its community
Faraz Iqbal, owner, and his team, took home the Best UK Small Convenience Store and the Community Retailer of the Year awards.
The event which was hosted by TV presenter Konnie Huq was broadcasted live online, aimed to recognise the very best retailers, businesses and initiatives from the convenience retail industry.
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Hide AdFrom the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, Faraz and his team went above and beyond to help some of the most vulnerable people in the community when they had nowhere else to turn.
Faraz said: “It has been really good to get some recognition for my team and I.
"We have been working tirelessly for the past few months to make the shop better for the community – it shows that we are doing something right.”
The store quickly understood how the pandemic impacted on people.
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Hide Ad"When lockdown started, a lot of people were struggling so we tried to help them as best we could – we are not just a local shop, we are a community hub.”
Faraz and his team were awarded the accolades for all of their excellent work serving the community, but along with the awards the Linktown Local has had some unwanted attention from online scammers.
“We recently have had scammers pretending to be us with a fake Facebook page contacting people telling them they had won a prize and to enter their details A few people have fallen victim to it, so we are urging anyone that has been contacted to inform the police or ourselves.
"We have also been looking at the way we run the shop to benefit people in the community, so we have started a delivery service that is easy to use and will hopefully make life easier for some people.
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Hide Ad"I’m a member of the Premier Development Group and we have been looking at ways to make things easier for everyone.
"We have to keep moving forward and keep changing things up to – a local shop now isn’t just about selling products.”