Kaydee Blinds has completed one of the biggest shop front refurbishment contracts in its history.

The contract, with leading national newspaper publisher - News UK – saw the Derby-based company survey, supply and fit almost 500 branded awnings and canopies to independent newsagents up and down the country.

News UK mounted a major campaign last year to help Britain’s independent newsagents boost their sales of its newspapers, including The Sun, The Times and The Sunday Times titles. The company contacted newsagents nationwide with an offer to brighten up their shop displays and shop fronts. Thousands of shops across the British Isles took advantage of the promotion, of which nearly 500 in England were fitted with striking Sun or Times branded awnings by Kaydee.

Kaydee won the contract – which was eventually worth almost £1 million – due in large part to the company’s willingness to commit to undertake the fit-out within a very tight time-scale. The bulk of the programme was completed within a 6 week period – with over 350 shops refitted in that period.

Kaydee was contracted to visit each site once the owner had agreed to the work, undertake a survey, manufacture the awning to their size requirements – in either Sun or Times branding – and then fit, managing whatever conditions and circumstances were found at each site. The contract also required the refurbishment of electrical equipment if the awnings were motorised or if lighting was involved.

The awnings themselves were manufactured from either bright red PVC stretched over an aluminium frame for the Sun awnings, or black PVC for the Times awnings. The final balance between the two brands chosen by the retailers was approximately 65% for The Sun with the remainder opting for The Times.

The awnings and canopies were supplied in a range of sizes up to 7000mm wide.

Said Kaydee director, Roy South: “Our fitting team pulled out all the stops to complete this contract under challenging circumstances. England’s high streets present a range of problems to be overcome when attempting to remove and refit awnings and canopies to shop fronts, but our teams managed to accomplish the work in super-quick time.

Retailers across the land who took advantage of the offer, report increases in sales due to more attractive shop fronts and better laid out interiors.