A NEW village card shop has won a top industry award recognising it as one of the best greeting card retailers in the UK after opening less than two years ago.

Cards and Moor, of Yelverton, has been awarded the best newcomer trophy in The Greeting Card Retail Awards 2024 – known affectionately as ‘The Retas’ – at an event in London.

Sally Swift set up Cards & Moor after returning to her home county of Devon for the quiet life and ended up being busier than ever.

She said: “To be nominated for the best newcomer award is amazing in itself, but to win it is an absolute honour.  Myself and my colleague Vicki travelled up to London for the incredible ceremony attended by so many retailers. When ‘Cards & Moor of Yelverton’ was announced as the winner of our category I have to say I was a little stunned, but I managed to recover and am just so delighted to have won!”

Sally grew up in Devon, moving to London in 1988 and worked for Reuters news agency, Fleet Street, but returned to the ‘quiet life’ in 2003 with husband Martin to Chagford, where her mother was born. They entered retailing by buying Chagford newsagents shop, now Sally’s Newsagents.

Sally said: “During the last 21 years of running Sally’s Newsagents I have extended the card section and enjoy finding new suppliers. Not a day goes by without someone saying what an amazing selection we have and now our Cards & Moor customers are saying the same.”

They moved to Yelverton in 2016 and bought the lease in 2022 and opened Cards & Moor that November: “I always thought that a card and gift shop would fit in really well with the other shops in Yelverton.

“It has been a wonderful experience opening the shop and getting to know and becoming part of the local business community and long may that continue! Cards & Moor has surpassed our expectations, and we are truly grateful to the locals who now visit the shop regularly and thank us for having opened – we couldn’t ask for more than that.”