by Sujeeva Nivunhella reporting from London

Boots Piccadilly Circus branch headed by its General Manager Chaminda Ranasinghe Ratnayake won the Best Retail Team in the UK for 2020/21 out of 300,000 retail teams across the country at a glamorous award ceremony held in London last week. A former head boy of Carey College, Colombo, Ratnayake completed his Bachelors in Business Management in University of Bangalore and achieved his Masters Degree in International Marketing from the University of East London. He has now gained over 18 years experience in Retail in the UK.

Retailers award ceremony is conducted by the Retail Week magazine every year and winning an award at the event is considered to be the pinnacle of their career.

In the Best Retail Team category, Boots competed against renowned businesses such as Tesco, Sainsburys, CO-OP, B&Q, Mark & Spencer, Pets At Home and River Island who were also nominated for the award.

After the ceremony talking to Sunday Island, Boots Piccadilly Circus General Manager Ratnayake said that throughout the pandemic the store team demonstrated that they are true frontline heroes and a great asset to the organisation, as well as the community by overcoming personal and external barriers to ensure all services and support are accessible to the customers and patients. “Staff canceled time off and worked on their scheduled days off to ensure the branch stayed open to serve people in need, including homeless people, methadone users and victims of domestic violence, who sought refuge there”, he said.

“The team transformed the pharmacy consultation rooms into Safe Spaces for victims of domestic violence as cases soared during lockdown and employees took calls from patients in need of support day and night. They were part of the Government initiative “Ask ANI” project. This was supported by the Duchess of Cornwall. The team was part of the fight to fly Covid testing trial which helped thousands of customers who were traveling to see family and loved ones”, he further said.

Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Safeguarding, Victoria Atkins commended Ratnayake’s contribution towards social welfare. Then Health Secretary Matt Hancock also made a special acknowledgment about all the support and efforts made towards the public’s well being in the global pandemic.

Lord Bethell, Under-Secretary of State at the Department of Health and Social Care visited the branch to thank the team personally for all the work they did to support the COVID-19 testing and diagnostics.