EXCITING NEWS

As I write this, I should be getting ready for a busy Saturday. November is one of our busiest months, the shop would be filled with festive cheer, the smell of a winter candle and freshly ground coffee would hit you as you walked through the door. I won’t argue that we have to close, I do understand we have to get this pandemic under control. I won’t argue that other shops such as garden centres who sell plants, pots, homeware, gifts, Christmas decorations and other ‘essential items’ and have hundreds of visitors a day can remain open, no, I won’t argue about that at all!

So, back to our exciting news which I was hoping to share last week until the Government sent us a curve ball.  There could be some truth in writing your hopes and dreams down and they may come true. I posted a few weeks back, “I’m working towards Amelia running the shop with me. That’s what I dream of.”

Amelia has been working with us for about a year and a half now, mainly on a Saturday, covering the shop when we went away and most recently every Wednesday. Last year we went to Italy for four days (remember those times when you could book weekends away?) and when we came back she said she pretended the shop was hers. This made my eyes fill up and I knew then that she enjoyed being in the shop as much as me.

So gushy words aside, we have so many plans for the business, not just for 22 Town Street. I would like to concentrate on my interior styling, hopefully working on more commercial projects when new bars and restaurants can open again. We want to expand the coffee bar, wouldn’t it be nice to drink a Flat White at our counter?

Buying stock for the shop also takes a lot of my time. 4.30am starts to vintage fairs and weekly plant buying trips to London then styling everything, not to mention telling everyone about it. I’m exhausted writing it down, let alone physically doing it. I am ancient after all.

So we decided to bite the bullet and offer Amelia a more permanent role. She had just been offered a full time job, so we were thrilled when she accepted our job offer. So, meet our new Marketing and Website Manager ...

A week after offering the job we had to close. Initially I think we all thought that this was really bad timing, but we’re turning it into a positive. It will give us the opportunity to work on our website, set up our 'Click and Collect' service and work on our mailing list. If you’d like to join our mailing list, add your details at the bottom of any page on our website, you might actually hear something from us this time.

We are very excited about Amelia joining us and I’m now actually looking forward to these next four weeks in lockdown.

Stay safe everyone, Kate, Jonathan and Amelia. x