New ventures for woman who started fashion empire with £45
A TALENTED entrepreneur who turned £90 into a £14m online fashion firm is poised to launch a raft of new firms.
Alice Hall left Pink Boutique last October, eight years after she and her mother Julie Blackie each invested £45 on dresses to kickstart the web venture.
Since then she has been working on new plans, resulting in the launch of Rowen Group – which takes its title from her middle name – the parent group for a collection of diverse businesses.
Mrs Hall will start with three business, two in the food e-commerce sector and the third in interior design, but says she’s keen to have more firms within the Rowen Group in the future.
She said: “I’m so excited to be creating new jobs in the region and hope to support other businesses too. I’m also looking forward to recruiting talent who are excited to join us on this journey.
“Rowen Group will act as the ‘engine room’ for a series of businesses, providing all the infrastructure, HR, marketing, warehousing and fulfilment they need.
“I’m starting off with a team of eight, who will work remotely to begin with, and future job creation depends on how fast we grow but we will keep on recruiting.”
Mrs Hall has created a food allergy company called Allergy Box and a firm called LowKal, which will sell health snacks online.
The third business, Rowen Homes, will see Mrs Hall put her creative interior design talents to use, having taken a part-time diploma since leaving Pink Boutique.
All of the businesses will be based at Rowen Group’s new offices at Baker’s Yard in Gosforth, the former Greggs Bakery site, which are due to be completed next month.
Work is currently being carried out at the Baker’s Yard site, which developers Adderstone Group have been converting to attract new businesses, to create offices for Mrs Hall in a section of the yard called the Stottie Shed.
New jobs, including digital specialist roles, are also being created by Mrs Hall, who has already taken on four new staff members after carrying out interviews via Zoom.
She said: “The food e-commerce sector isn’t one we’ve had experience in but then I didn’t have experience in fashion when I started Pink Boutique. Pulling from my life experience, it’s all about seeing gaps.
“Allergy Box is going to be a food allergy store, making it faster and easier to shop online if you have any food allergies. It’s really hard to shop if you have allergies which means you can’t have dairy, coconut, soy or egg, for example, and it takes so long checking all the labels.
“On the homepage for Allergy Box you’ll be able to tick the boxes for the allergy you have, which will then bring up the products you can buy.
“The second business is LowKal, an online store selling healthy snacks. This online store will have treats you can buy and still stick to your programmes, showing how many calories are in them while also emphasising this is for health purposes.
“I’m looking to stock a certain number of lines for the sites to get started off but I’m looking to expand it and want to hear from local producers. I really want to champion local businesses so want to hear from everyone who manufactures low calorie products, snacks and treats. Both businesses tap into growing markets and what these last few weeks have emphasised is that people are happy to order online, so I’m really excited for the pair of them.”