Kemp's General Store in Malton up for top award

Kemp’s General Store, on Market Square in Malton, has been shortlisted by the FSB Celebrating Small Business Awards in the Micro Business of the Year category for the Yorkshire and Humber area.

Owner Liz Kemp said: “I am really delighted with the news.

“We strive to ensure that Kemp’s ethos of selling the very best and most unique to our customers, combined with our commitment to old fashioned customer service, stands true and with hundreds of entries for this category,

"I am thrilled to have been short-listed and pleased that Malton yet again is being promoted nationally as a town of thriving independent shops and successful small businesses.”

Liz will attend the area final which takes place on March 1, with the regional winners announced at a glittering lunch at The Principal hotel in York.

The regional winners in each category and other regional finalists will then go through to the national finals which will be a sparkling event in London on May 23 at Battersea Evolution.

Here the UK category winners and FSB Business of the Year 2019 will be announced.

The formal awards dinner on the evening of the final will attract more than 500 guests, made from area winners, the judges, sponsors, media, MPs and industry business leaders, for a night of celebration and recognition.

With the country divided up into 12 regions, Kemp’s is one of four entries in the Micro Business Award.

Other categories include Business and Product Innovation Award and International Business of the Year, among a total of 11 categories.

This is the second year the FSB Awards have taken place and include businesses from a wide range of sectors.

Liz, who grew up above her parent’s shop in West Yorkshire, opened Kemp’s General Store in 2017 as an emporium of gifts and must-haves for the home, many sourced locally and mostly British made.

Kemp’s was also recently nominated as one of the 100 shops across the country to be included in the renowned Small Business Saturday.