Get in quick to nominate your favourite city centre business

There are just a few days left to get your nominations in for the Love the Centre 2025 excellence awards.

There are ten different categories and any member of the public can nominate businesses they believe deserve to be recognized and celebrated, but nominations close on August 30th.

Love the Centre General manager Vanessa Williams said the awards are a way to promote and celebrate the excellence of Hamilton’s Central business community,

“We think it is important to have businesses share and celebrate whatever they have achieved, and for remaining during a tough economic climate.”

After judging is completed in September an awards night will be held on October 29. This has been held at different locations each year, often in new developments the team want to highlight, and where people can easily go back and experience later.

Love the Centre represents up to twelve hundred businesses in Kirikiriroa city centre and has a focus on encouraging people into town spaces.

The organisation was motivated to rebrand from the Hamilton Central Business Association to ‘Love the Centre’ at the end of the COVID-19 pandemic to encourage residents to reconnect to activities and businesses in the City.

Williams said their focus is on promoting the city centre to the general public and business community “by telling positive stories to highlight why people should come to the city. We have a major focus on close customer contacts, retail, entertainment and hospitality.”

She added that Love The Centre is all about encouraging people to come into town, “It is all about finding what you love about the city centre.”

Love the Centre puts up a hundred and twenty different public-facing events at Garden Place, from small-scale to big events Hamilton air balloons. Through summer, music will be played during lunch hours for people to enjoy.

Williams noted that the city has changed with professional businesses joining traditional retail stores on the ground floors to be more accessible and consumer focused.

Love the Centre has over fifty thousand followers across social media platforms and is always looking at what to do in the city. “We are all about experience.’’ Williams said.

The nominations awards have ten nomination categories for celebrating and recognising businesses in the central centre. For more information;https://www.lovethecentre.co.nz/awards

Mercy Chepkoech is an International Student. She is currently studying the NZ Diploma in Journalism.