That’s the spirit! Jo launched own gin shop after years in retail
The Derby Telegraph’s Love your Local campaign has been shining a light on independent retail and hospitality businesses across the county to help people to appreciate their local shops, restaurants, cafes and bars. Today, Ben Lyons visits Let It Be Gin, in Bath Street, Ilkeston
A SHOP which specialises in selling locally-sourced small-batch gins and rums has enjoyed a strong first year of trading.
Let It Be Gin, in Ilkeston, stocks products from five Derbyshire distilleries. The store, at 87 Bath Street, is run by Jo Marsh, who is a lifelong resident of the town. The 59-year-old, who spent more than 15 years working for big retailers, explained why she decided to take the plunge and open up her own shop in September last year.
Jo said: “Opening a shop selling locally-sourced and small-batch distillery gins had been an idea I’d thought of for a couple of years but never did anything about it. I worked all through the pandemic and that made me feel that if I never did it, I’d regret it.
“I am a gin lover and our aim when we opened the shop was to bring to Ilkeston premium quality gins that you don’t get from a supermarket. We also wanted to support local distilleries and have the glasses and coasters engraved locally.
“We have five Derbyshire gins, some Nottinghamshire ones and the rest are from countrywide smallbatch distilleries.
“We now sell a small selection of rums, one of which is from our most local supplier, Blue Monkey, in Giltbrook.
“Our prices match the distilleries’ websites, or could be a pound more, and we are often cheaper than other online retailers. Obviously, there is no delivery charge as you can just take it away with you.”
The five Derbyshire distilleries currently represented are Dancing Anchor, based in Dronfield, Cuckoostone, from Barlow in the Peak District, Dog and Spoon, from Alfreton, Derbyshire Distillery, from Chesterfield, and Derby-based Withers gin.
The glasses and coasters are hand-engraved in West Hallam and the tote bags stocked are printed in Kirk Hallam.
I have a base of regular customers who come in and love discovering the new gins for themselves. Jo Marsh
Jo’s retail career saw her spend more than a decade working both front and back-of-house at Argos, then a year at Aldi, before her most recent position of three years working as a supervisor at Toolstation. While she runs the shop on her own, Jo says the process of setting it up 11 months ago was a real family team effort.
She said: “I run the shop alone but all the fixtures and fittings were made by my husband, who owns a small fabricating business. My middle son also designed my logo.
“The name was thought up by my husband and everyone loves it and all the customers do too.
“The first 10 months have gone well and special occasions such as Christmas and Mother’s Day were very good.
“I have a base of regular customers who come in and love discovering the new gins for themselves. I get a fair amount of passing trade, especially now a lot of the empty shops are being opened up again.”