Newry businesswoman and owner of The Rug House Clare Vallely has scooped a leading prize at the Women in Business Northern Ireland Award. The Awards were held in the Culloden Estate and Spa near Belfast where 420 guests attended the event that highlighted the hard work and achievements of many business women who make a valuable contribution to the economic life of Northern Ireland. Ms Vallely is a 27 year old graduate from Dublin Institute of Technology where she studied Surveying and Property Economics. She started her business career while still at University setting up The Rug House with brother Paul. The Rug House began as an online company selling rugs on eBay, Amazon and the company website and in recent times The Rug House have been creating waves in the local economy opening a new retail outlet in Carnbane Industrial Estate Newry. Ms Vallely said: “I am delighted to be recognized but this award is in recognition of all our staff and their hard work. This is the busiest period of the year for The Rug House with homeowners investing in new rugs in time for Christmas and our staff have shown amazing commitment and work ethic to deal with the increased workload.” The Autumn and Winter season has been very successful for The Rug House with increasing sales and multiple award wins. In September The Rug House won Exporter of the Year at the DANI Awards and this was followed by the Best SME Award at the UTV Business Eye Awards. Over this period staffing levels have increased from 22 to 25 staff with a number of key positions still to be filled including shop and purchasing manager roles.
Newry Democrat
2nd December 2014
“