Big success stories can start small
RETAILERS IN THE RUNNING FOR TOP NATIONAL AWARD
IN a year where high street businesses have struggled to overcome the pandemic, a bath products store and a bead shop in Nottinghamshire have been recognised for how they adjusted.
Soak Southwell on Queen Street, Southwell, and The Bead Shop on Market Street in the city both reacted to the coronavirus lockdown by shifting business online and away from their physical stores.
Now both businesses are in the running to win the award of Britain’s Best Small Shop 2020.
The owner of Soak Southwell – which sells items including bath bombs and vegan-friendly soaps with an emphasis on less packaging – only opened her shop five months before the lockdown.
Louise Dugand said: “I’m a sole trader so its pretty much just me here with my daughter who helps.
“I didn’t really have a website before the pandemic so I spent a lot of time getting that online with help from my daughter. That was up and running in about two weeks and we could do nextday delivery for local customers who had been in the shop when it was open.
“That kept me afloat during the lockdown. I’m getting orders from Warrington and as far as Margate.”
The vast majority of its products are sold “naked” – unwrapped – to provide an alternative to bath products that are usually plastic packaged. All products are also hand-made in the UK.
The Bead Shop in Nottingham specialises in ethical and environmentally friendly jewellery supplies as well as sourcing hard to find items to make or fix jewellery.
The shop has also been shortlisted for the award and last year took part in the Independents Festival to promote the breadth of small businesses in Nottingham.
Owner Hana Glover said: “At the start of the Covid-19 pandemic we surveyed our customers to see how we could support them.
“This led to us redeveloping our website and hosting free online weekly beading and crafting socials.
“We’ve also used the time to launch a wide range of new creative kits and add lots of free projects and patterns to keep our customers entertained during lockdown.
“Our workshops have continued via Zoom and we have increased the frequency of email newsletters and kit launches to maintain communication.”
The Best Small Shops competition is managed by the Independent Retailers Confederation (IRC), whose member trade associations represent approximately 100,000 independent retailers throughout the UK between them.
Mark Walmsley, chairman of the IRC, added: “This has been a particularly challenging year for small, independent retailers and many have come through to this point through innovation, quality of product and service, a commitment to serve their local communities and a large dose of determination.”
The winner will be announced next month.