Penrith’s Hedgehog Bookshop has been shortlisted for a national award for its range of greeting cards.
It has been nominated in the Best Independent Bookstore Retailer for Greeting Cards category of the RETAS — industry awards for greeting card retail.
The winners will be announced at a ceremony at The Grosvenor in London in July.
Shop owner Evonne Pearson said: “It was a wonderful surprise to find out we had been shortlisted. I was overwhelmed when I found out as I love my cards as much as my books.”
There are seven finalists from across the UK and Ireland in the category, which Hedgehog won two years ago.
The awards, which are in their 21st year, recognise and reward the best greeting card retailers in the country .
Evonne said: “I don’t know who nominated us — it will have been somebody within the industry, such as a publisher or designer. I am as proud as punch and thankful to whoever it was.
“We stock children’s cards, art cards, pop-up cards — a bit of everything for everyone.”
Evonne, who took over the business eight years ago, said she sources her greeting cards mainly from trade fairs.
Last year, she was asked to be a judge for the Henrys, which are awards for card design.
Nearer to home, Hedgehog was named best independent shop in last year’s Stars of Business awards, organised by Penrith Chamber of Trade and Commerce.
