FORTUNE FAVOURS THE TRADERS AT INDEPENDENT HUB
ASHORT distance from the main drag of shops and restaurants in Sale lies a huge hub of independent, local businesses. Emporium M33 has everything from florists to tattoo parlours to knitting shops, all under one roof and overseen by owner Scott Lyons.
The three-storey shopping complex has drawn regular comparisons to Afflecks Palace, that Northern Quarter institution famed for its quirky collection of traders - and it’s clear to see why.
Nourishing both tiny start-up craft businesses all the way to huge stores who have been pushed out of the high street by rising rental rates, traders in here overlap on both space and customers.
Scott, who has a long history in the retail industry, acquired the building two years ago, though had been a trader within it for five years before that. At that time, it was known as Trader’s Outlet - a name he quickly scrapped.
“It gave the perception that it was only open to trade, or that it’s a discount shop,” he said. “Put the two together, and add in the word Sale to Google, and it doesn’t have the right image.”
Inside the building on Tatton Road, shoppers can get their hands on fashion items, antiques, candles, cakes, buttons, jewellery, pet accessories, bags and art.
There are services inside too hairdressing salons, a tattoo parlour, a wedding planning hub, an alterations service, a holistic therapy parlour, a cafe, and even a photography studio.
A section of the first floor has become a one-stop shop for wedding planning, with prop hire, wedding cakes, balloon arches, face painters, customised accessories, bespoke honeymoon bookings and even a full bridal boutique selling wedding dresses.
“The one thing I’m looking for is diversity,” said Scott, who lives nearby in Timperley. “There’s no point me trying to be like any other shop.”
With a central till, Scott offers his traders the flexibility to man their shops as and when they’re able to, meaning owners can nip off to do the school run or take the car for an M.O.T., leaving customers to make their sales through the main till point.
“It gives them flexibility and lifestyle where they can launch a business without the overheads because obviously if it was their own business there’s no way they’d be locking the door at three o’clock. You just wouldn’t.”
Prices for units at Emporium M33 start from as little as £40. That essentially gets you a cabinet, but that cabinet is a chance for people to showcase their products without revealing the reality of a start-up businesses, which is so often a dining table turned into an assembly line. Looking after local businesses is hugely important to Scott.
“Ninety per cent of the people who trade from here live in the M33 postcode,” he said.
“It’s the lifeblood. The bigger you get, the more you swallow up everything around you.
“It’s like the Argos round the corner, which has left a massive unit behind and moved into the back of Sainsbury’s. What’s going to take its place?
“A lot of people have had their own shops but been squeezed by the high rates, high rents, overheads. Here they pay a flat fee, which includes electricity and everything.”
Bruce Tafrov, who runs the Bruce Lightnink tattoo parlour on the top floor alongside his girlfriend Simon, said: “I was in the Northern Quarter before. I didn’t like it at all. Here I’m much happier.”
He doesn’t elaborate further, disappearing off to the buzz of a tattoo needle.
But it’s a recurring theme, people leaving behind the increasingly competitive city centre to move out to operate from their hometown instead.
Sandra Taylor, owner of Soul Star Holistics which offers Reiki for both people and dogs, has lived in Sale for seven years and been part of Emporium M33 for two.
She said: “I love it here. It works around the children, school, my husband. I can always come back in the afternoon after I’ve dropped the children off.
“I was at Afflecks before. It’s more of a community here whereas at Afflecks I was in a room on my own and not getting much footfall through the shop. Everybody supports each other here.”
Taking up one of the window spaces is Hall and Hines, selling handmade jewellery, vegan leather bags and other gifts from local designers.
Laura Hall, co-owner of the business who used to live in Switzerland but moved back to Sale once returning to the UK, said: “I’ve had pop-up spaces but nothing as permanent as this.
“I teamed up with Claire [Hines], she’s very creative and we both like making things, so I said ‘Come on let’s do something.’
“We’ve both got quite young children so Emporium has given us the chance have a shop but given us the flexibility. We don’t have to be here physically all the time.”
Diane Pinder has been part of Emporium for eight years with her haberdashery business Blue Button Designs. She said: “There’s a lovely atmosphere in the shop.
“Scott is quite proactive. He does what he says. He’s got our interests at heart.
“I think it really does boost the area. We’re sadly lacking in independent shops, people can’t afford the high street, they just can’t afford the rents and rates.
“It’s a really nice way of doing business. You’ve got a lot of diversity in the shops and it’s great as a little community shop - we get all sorts of characters coming in!
“It affords the smaller business a platform to get their business off the ground. It gives you a little safety net.”