Hayford & Rhodes, co-owned by three young sisters, Amy, Laura and Joanna Rhodes, scooped the Covent Garden Market Authority Retail Florist of the Year award at this year’s Re:fresh awards.
The sisters rose to the challenge of relaunching one of London’s oldest and most prestigious florists, William Hayford, in 2007.
Their vision was to make Hayford & Rhodes the most exciting, innovative and creative florist in the UK and, in just two years, they have made a good start in their quest to achieve that.
The company is already a serious contender in London circles, and has received recognition in various trade and consumer magazines, as well as featuring at New Covent Garden Flower Market’s 2009 Spring Celebration event.
In February this year, the sisters opened two new shops, in Notting Hill and Liverpool Street. With backgrounds in PR, marketing sales and floristry, they have combined their diverse commercial skills with a hard work ethic and a collective determination to reach the ambitious objectives of themselves and their dedicated team, many of whom have remained with the company for more than 20 years.
A complete rebranding exercise, accompanied by a heavy PR and direct marketing campaign and a genuinely high-quality product offer, has attracted plentiful new business and, more importantly, repeat business.
The business is committed to green practices and is 75 per cent towards its ‘zero to landfill’ target. This approach has not been dimmed by the recession, and Hayford & Rhodes has reviewed its strategy to deal with leaner times in London, and begun to move away from further expansion of its corporate sector business, and towards weddings, events and funerals.
Marketing director Laura Rhodes told freshinfo: "We were just gobsmacked - we only took over the company three years ago and we've worked so hard to get it back to the standard it was some years ago that to get the industry recognition means a lot to us.
"These awards are only as good as the amount you promote them and we will be holding a celebration evening later in the summer for it and inviting our clients along."
Prestigious London company Camberwell-based Flowers24Hours.co.uk and Hertfordshire-based retail florist Dandelyons were also nominated in the category.
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