BCCM Crowns Festive Window Competition Winners

Belfast City Centre Management have crowned festive window display winners for lighting up the city with ‘It’s a Belfast Christmas’ theme.

The light-hearted contest, aimed to encourage retailers and hospitality venues to decorate their frontages to dress the city centre for Christmas was a hotly contested event.

Belfast City Centre Management (BCCM) has crowned four city retailer and hospitality businesses as the winners of its annual Festive Window Competition.

BCCM, a not-for-profit company, is proud to announce Remus Uomo, Victoria Square, as its Overall Winner in this year’s competition with their ‘Yer Granny’s front room at Christmas’ window display which celebrates the nostalgia of Christmas’s bygone years in Belfast.

The other winners were:

Nobletts, North Street, took first prize again in the Independent Retail Category;
Anthropologie, Arthur Street, took first prize in the Multiple Retail Category; and
Granny Annies in Victoria Street, took first prize in the Hospitality Category.

Announcing the winners, Geraldine Duggan, City Centre Manager at Belfast City Centre Management, said: “We were inundated with entries this year and it was a difficult competition to judge but all entrants should be congratulated for contributing to the vibrant and jovial atmosphere in the city centre.

Festive window displays help enliven our city centre streets and gives a much-needed boost to lifting the spirits of staff who are working long hours over the festive season.

We want to congratulate and thank this year’s winners for the effort they put into lighting up the streets of our city. They have injected magic onto the streets and made a Christmas trip to the city a much brighter one.”

Winners received a special edition bottle of sparkly and chocolates to share with staff, as well as a certificate to display on their Wall of Awards. Photographs of the winners and finalists will be displayed on the Festive Window Display Hall of Fame on BCCM’s website.

Patrick McLaughlin, Store Manager of Remus Uomo, Belfast said: “To win an award within your own shopping centre is one thing but to fend off stiff competition from other retailers across the city is quite another. We are obviously delighted to have won this award. The vibrancy of our shop windows forms an important part of the retail experience we offer to shoppers that only city centre shopping can provide.

The window this year, was created by our visual merchandising manager Paul McMordie, and forms part of Remus Uomo’s recent ‘Belfast Not Milan’ campaign which solidifies the brand’s Belfast origin story and credentials as an independent men’s clothing brand established in 1991 in Belfast.

To encapsulate the warmth of the scene Paul sourced antique furniture, created retro foil hanging decorations and added vintage toys under a traditional decorated tree. A bespoke ‘chandelier’ made from vintage lamp shades is included in front of a roaring fireplace which acts as a backdrop to add to the effect.

With sustainability in mind, Paul sourced the majority of props for the window display from local charity shops and salvage yards.”