The very best of St Albans’ businesses were celebrated and honoured on Monday night at our annual Retailer of the Year awards evening in the Alban Arena.

Cheers and drum rolls filled the venue as hundreds of guests waited for this year’s overall winner, the Retailer of the Year, to be announced.

Greys Hairdressing in Christopher Place took home the prize, prompting an eruption of applause as staff took to the stage to collect their award from committee chairman Roma Mills and newly elected Mayor of St Albans Geoff Harrison

The hair and beauty salon boasts 28 years in business.

Claire Mariscal, who has worked at the salon for 12 years and has been manager for eight, said: “It's brilliant to have won. We are really pleased. We aim to give a five star service everyday to our customers. It is nice that that has been recognised.”

Receptionist Abbie Virgo said it was “amazing”. She said: “I think we offer a very personal service to our customers. We are very, very proud.”

Established by the St Albans & Harpenden Review, St Albans District Council, St Albans Civic Society and St Albans Chamber of Commerce, this year's competition was our biggest yet, with more than 2,200 nominations received.

Mystery shoppers spent weeks pounding the streets, putting all our 133 nominated traders to the test.

Nominations were for six categories: Specialist Shops; Hair and Beauty, Fashion and Accessories; Markets Traders; Cafes and Restaurants and Food and Drink.

The Retailer of the Year committee, made up of Councillor Roma Mills, Alderman Melvyn Teare, Chamber member Sandra Oldfield, civic society member Eric Roberts, council officer Maria Cutler, Councillor Heidi Allen and former Review editor Martin Buhagiar, then decided on the winner of each category.

Singer Ricky Lopez – aka Elvis Shmelvis – kept the crowds entertained throughout the sold-out glitzy gala awards evening. Now in its seventh year, the evening aims to recognise the achievements of the city’s many unsung heroes and hard-working independent retailers.

Mr Buhagiar, the evening’s compere, told the audience: “The 2014 competition has been better than ever before."

He said: “The standards are extremely high and the competition is incredibly tough so please all pat yourselves on the back at being here tonight.

“This is the first time nominations have topped 2,000. This just goes to show how lucky we are to have an array of shops, market stalls, boutiques, cafes, restaurants and hair and beauty salons at our disposal.

“In 2008 we were not quite sure how many entries we would receive – however, our inaugural awards evening was a huge success.

“Each that has followed has built on that success and now in its seventh year the response to the 2014 competition has been better than ever before.”

The first prize of the evening, Specialist Shops, was presented to Chantilly Interiors in Catherine Street by Councillor Roma Mills.

Up next was the Food and Drink category, presented to Baked Nation in Victoria Street, by Alderman Melvyn Teare.

Owner Agron Ballo said he was “speechless” to win the award after being in business for only four months.

He said: “I didn't expect to be nominated, let alone win it. It is only the beginning but we seem to have been recognised and the hard work is paying off.

“I hope we won because we are the only business in St Albans that bakes real artisan bread daily.”

Cheesewheeler, as owned by Martijn Kanap, was named winner of the Markets Traders category, as presented by St Albans Civic Society member, Eric Roberts.

Greys Hairdressing won the Hair and Beauty category, as presented by Alastair Woodgate from St Albans Chamber of Commerce.

This year’s Star Award, which was introduced in 2010 to reward traders that go that little bit further, went to Empire Records in Heritage Close.

Peter Goodman from St Albans Chamber of Commerce presented the award.

Manager Dave Burgess said he was “elated”. He said: “I wasn't expecting it because this is our first year in St Albans.

“It has been a good first year for us and I hope we are offering something different to our customers – there seems to be a lot of interest.”

Maria Cutler, economic development officer at the district council, presented The Dressing Room in the High Street with the award for the Fashion and Accessories category.

The Cafe and Restaurants award went to Verdi’s Trattoria in Clarence Road, as presented by Councillor Heidi Allen.

Staff from The Boot in Market Place, which was named Festive Pub of the Year and Raft, in Chequer Street, the Festive Window of the Year winner, were also presented with their awards.