With our sensational awards from The Chesterfield Retail Awards earlier this year we were delighted to make the list of three finalists for Independent Retailer of the Year at the Derbyshire Times Business Excellence Awards.

Adam with Independent Retailer of the Year

awards night seating plan

Held at the wonderful Casa Hotel in Chesterfield, the event is a firm favourite for many of the businesses in Derbyshire. We always enjoy visiting Casa, the atmosphere manages to be both glamorous and exciting at the same time. The team are exceptionally friendly and the food is sensational. Casa pride themselves on using fresh, local produce and you can really tell the difference when you eat there.

pudding at casa

The evening gets underway with drinks and I love to see what everyone is wearing! We had a delicious dinner and we try to put the awards out of our mind and enjoy the food although it’s difficult not to be nervous. As always, we’re happy just to have the accolade of ‘finalist’ but of course I always secretly hope that we’ll win!

awards evening table

Our host for the evening was the wonderful Ashleigh Porter-Exley. Best known for winning The BBC’s Young Apprentice, Ashleigh was a true delight to chat to and managed to keep even the most excited of us in check – not an easy task!

LJ and Adam at the awards

After dinner the lights are dimmed and the awards begin!! To tell the truth I always check to see when our award is presented and hope that it’s early in the evening. That way I can relax, whatever the outcome! Fortunately for us our award was fairly early on. As Ashleigh read out the finalists I thought my heart might just hammer out of my chest, surely everyone at our table must be able to hear it thumping??!! Then..”The Winner is…Adorn Jewellers!” I practically ran to the stage! To be recognised at such a wonderful event is a sensational feeling and standing on the stage receiving an award for our business which started out as a dream and some sketches on scraps of paper and which you lovely people have helped us to grow into the award winning success it is today is unreal.

LJ and Adam selfie

Applause and then an interview and it was all over, we could relax!!

I always say that the awards we win belong to all of our lovely customers so if you’d like to call in and take a selfie with the trophy, you’re most welcome!

Independent Retailer of the Year 2019

Of course my absolute favourite thing about awards evenings is that, winner or runner up I get to dress up and wear fabulous jewellery. This year I wore Simon Harrison’s  Crystal Snake Necklace in Green with matching earrings. For extra sparkle I added the Caddis Ring and Caddis Multi Baguette Bracelet. I must say that as soon as I put on Simon’s Snake Necklace I felt on top of the world. The necklace is such a show stopper and has quite a weight but I found her so comfortable to wear. The ‘underbelly’ is soft and contoured gently to fit your neck. Simon is an absolute genius of a designer . It’s rare to find a statement piece that is comfortable to wear but the snake is delightful. She also warms to your skin so throughout the evening she seems to get more comfortable. She fastens by the fangs biting the body so you’re able to wear her at different lengths which is great to suit different necklines. For the awards I wore her just resting on my decolletage as that suited my dress for the evening but if you had a high neck dress with a low back you could wear her with the head and tail draping down the back for a truly unique style.

crystal snake necklace green

No time to relax as we are busy, busy, busy with Christmas. So many of you coming to see us which is lovely. I’m sure I’ll tell you when I see you but each and every sale does mean a lot. We’re so happy that you come to us for your jewellery, you make us feel like winners everyday!

Until Soon,
Laura Jo xx

ADORN Jewellers of Chesterfield ~ Unusual Jewellery Stockists Derbyshire