Paisley retailer Ali Irtiza scoops £10,000 prize in Camelot’s new-look rewards programme

Ali Irtiza, owner of East End Convenience Store in the Scottish town of Paisley, has won the top prize of £10,000 in the first quarterly prize draw of Camelot’s new-look ‘Site, Stock, Sell Online’.

Another 10 retailers shared £10,000 between them after the National Lottery operator adapted and moved the retailer rewards programme online earlier in the year in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The winners of the £1,000 prize are:

• Premila Pancholi, owner of Birchills News in Walsall
• Pravin and Sumitra Patel of Pravin’s Off Licence in Bolton
• Paresh Amin of News Centre in Basingstoke
• Vishal Patel of Nisa in Towcester
• Pauline Wales of Spar Polmont in Falkirk
• Adrian Brown of Browns Convenience Store in Swansea
• Nayan Patel of Ratcliffe Off Licence in Loughborough
• Subramaniam Varatharaj of Ley Convenience Store in Ely
• Muhammad Nadeem of K and A News in London
• Sukhy Gidda of Wood Vue Convenience Store in Spennymoor

Commenting on her prize, Premila Pancholi said the reward feels good considering the current challenging circumstances.

“It’s great to see our hard work pay off and it’s nice to be rewarded for our efforts. It’s also been really good to be rewarded in the current climate,” she said.

“It will be great to spend it on something nice for the family, but we’re not sure exactly what yet. But one thing I do know is that we will enjoy it!”

For Pravin Patel, whose daughters have just qualified as a doctor and dentist, and son is at Cambridge University studying as a medical student, the prize adds to a lovely Christmas with the family.

“I will save the champagne to enjoy celebrating with them all,” he said.

Vishal Patel, meanwhile, plans to support his wife’s charitable endeavours with the money.

“My wife is running a marathon next year for a charity supporting cancer research. Her fundraising target is £2,500, so this will give her a great head start. I have four stores in total, all have The National Lottery and I know it helps drive footfall and increases basket spend.”

The 10-point Site, Stock, Sell programme helps retailers to improve their in-store standards and increase sales throughout the year by asking simple questions covering site, stock and sell. Each time retailers score 8 or above in a 10 point scale, they receive one entry into the quarterly prize draw with maximum of three entries per quarter.