Derry traders urged to add Christmas sparkle to their windows for annual competition

With only seven weeks to Christmas, City Centre Initiative has launched its annual Christmas WindowCompetition this week and is calling on local traders to once again ‘get their bobbles out’ and light up the city centre this Christmas time.
The Mayor, Councillor Michaela Boyle pictured at the launch of the 2019 City Centre Initiative's annual Christmas Windows competition with Lorraine Allen, CCI,  Arlene Donnelly, City Hotel, Taleesha Clarke and Paul Truscott,  Maldron Hotel,  Dermott McCrossan, City Centre Ranger and Lucia McCurley, CCI. Picture Martin McKeown.The Mayor, Councillor Michaela Boyle pictured at the launch of the 2019 City Centre Initiative's annual Christmas Windows competition with Lorraine Allen, CCI,  Arlene Donnelly, City Hotel, Taleesha Clarke and Paul Truscott,  Maldron Hotel,  Dermott McCrossan, City Centre Ranger and Lucia McCurley, CCI. Picture Martin McKeown.
The Mayor, Councillor Michaela Boyle pictured at the launch of the 2019 City Centre Initiative's annual Christmas Windows competition with Lorraine Allen, CCI, Arlene Donnelly, City Hotel, Taleesha Clarke and Paul Truscott, Maldron Hotel, Dermott McCrossan, City Centre Ranger and Lucia McCurley, CCI. Picture Martin McKeown.

The competition, which has been running for 19 years has encouraged traders to add some Christmas sparkle to their window displays to help attract custom and improve the overall presentation of the city centre for local and visiting shoppers.

Mayor of Derry City and Strabane District Council Cllr Michaela Boyle who is pledging her support for the competition said it’s great to see all agencies working with retailers to improve the look of the city centre in the run up to Christmas and help create a real buzz and pride in the city.

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She said: “This competition has been hugely successful in encouraging our retailers to showcase their produce in an imaginative and creative way and to work collectively towards enhancing the overall Christmas shopping experience for locals and visitors to our city.”

Jim Roddy, Chief Executive and City Centre Manager at City Centre Initiative (CCI) said the competition has grown significantly over the past number of years and he praised the efforts of local businesses that have taken part and contributed to the feel of the city centre over the festive season.

He added: “Our City Centre businesses always make a great effort to dress their windows and get involved with the competition and each year we see the number of entries becoming more creative and imaginative.

This doesn’t have to a big budget window production, sometimes it can be quite elaborate, which is great and other times simplicity epitomises the Christmas spirit.’’

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“While we have three great prizes on offer for the top three windows, this is not really about who wins or loses, it’s about coming together as a city centre community to offer everyone a great shopping experience in our city. We have the opportunity to provide a unique Christmas shopping experience to the public and increase our visitor’s numbers and that’s why taking part is so important, let’s show everyone our sparkle this Christmas.”

This year’s CCI Christmas Window Competition will follow the same format as last year’s competition. Winners will be chosen by the public, who can select their winners from a shortlist of twelve, representing the city centres twelve windows of Christmas. Votes can be made online via the CCI Facebook page, by telephone, post or email. The three top prizes are once again sponsored by the Maldron Hotels, Foyleside Shopping Centre and the City Hotel. The competition will be open to city centre local businesses, national/multi-national businesses and evening time economy businesses.

Jim Roddy concluded: “What we now want city centre businesses to do is contact us to tell us if they are planning a Christmas window display. We will complete the shortlisting process on Monday, December 2 with the ‘Twelve windows of Christmas’ presented for public voting at 5pm on the same day. Votes will be open for one week, closing on Monday 9 th December at 5pm, winners will then be announced on Tuesday 10 th

December and we will have a prize giving at the Guildhall with the Mayor of Derry City and Strabane District on Wednesday, December 11.”

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If you would like to enter the competition or nominate a businesses for inclusion, please contact City Centre Initiative before Friday, November 29 201. For further information contact Lucia on 028 (71) 360169 or email [email protected] or visit the City Centre Initiative Facebook page.

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