National Top Shops

Two Taranaki businesses will vie for national retail awards in September. On Monday, KILT New Plymouth and Cruiseabout New Plymouth were announced as finalists in the Retail NZ Top Shop regional awards. KILT New Plymouth, a women’s fashion store, was shortlisted for three awards; Best Large Retailer, Customer Experience and the Omnichannel award, which recognises both store and on-line trading. Cruiseabout New Plymouth was named as a finalist in the Investment in People category. The pair will represent the central North Island at the national retail excellence awards, which will be held on September 7.

Chimney winner

New Plymouth woman Hannah Smith has won the chance to climb up the former New Plymouth Power Station’s giant chimney. Smith and three friends will head to the top of the 198m high chimney after winning a competition organised by Port Taranaki.

Mountain in ads

Mt Taranaki is to feature in Air New Zealand’s new safety video, which is being released this week to an audience of millions. The region will be seen alongside Otago, Wellington, Waikato and Gisborne in the film, which will be launched on Air New Zealand’s social channels and rolled out across the airline’s fleet from Wednesday morning.

Motel gets gold

A Taranaki motel is the first in the region to reach a four-star gold status with Qualmark New Zealand. The Amity Court Motel in Stratford is one of only five motels across New Zealand to achieve gold status and is the only property in all categories of accommodation to achieve it in Taranaki to date. The 23 unit motel, opened in 2009 and has won a number of awards, along with winning this award it has won the Small Business Category at the 2016 Taranaki Business Excellence Awards and the 2017 Tripadvisor Excellence Award for the fifth year in a row.