One of East Anglia's top independent department stores is through to the finals of a national competition.

Colchester's Williams and Griffin was nominated for the Housewares Retailer Awards 2004 by manufacturers and suppliers, reaching the finals of the Best Department Store and Excellence in Retail Display awards.

The store, which employs more than 240 full and part-time staff and has an annual turnover of £18m, is also set to spend £500,000 revamping its first-floor women's fashion department.

The work will begin in mid-December, but managing director Jonathan Christie stressed the floor would not close.

"It is a long process, beginning in December and finishing at the end of January," he said. "But sections of the floor will remain open which is why the revamp is taking so many weeks."

Before that, in October, the store will refurbish its restaurant at a cost of £100,000.

Published Thursday August 26, 2004

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