shopping stuff:Brand new business layout
26/10/12
11:14
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SHOPPINGnews
Boutique expands into palatial shop Drop Dead Gorgeous is on the move – after 15 years – to a new location next door to The Theatre Royal. Amanda Farrell, owner of the boutique and Alice Ellis, who is responsible for sales and marketing have moved the business from its original shop into the palatial space formerly occupied by bridal boutique Caroline Castiligiano. The new shop has been transformed and offers a whole range of clothes from separates and party outfits and smart occasion wear to cruise wear, prom and bridesmaids’ dresses to evening gowns. Mothers of the bride and groom, or those looking for something suitable for a first, or second wedding, are invited to browse, enjoy a coffee and a chat while they find the outfit that makes them feel drop dead gorgeous.
PROFESSIONAL AND FRIENDLY: Amanda Farrell outside the new Drop Dead Gorgeous in Sawclose
Lynette has designs on Bear Flat
■ True Grace, luxury perfumed candles is opening a shop in Milsom Place, Bath in time for Christmas. Its candles and perfumed home products are all hand made in Wiltshire using natural ingredients. Truce Grace has seasonal candles, including Manor Christmas, with orange, geranium and amber and Village Christmas a fresh scent of pine, cedar wood and moss, to conjure up a fir tree on the village green, undecorated except for some white lights with a fragrance of pine and warm amber tones.
Bear Flat, already a great place for all kinds of interesting shops and businesses, has now got a contemporary homeware and furniture shop. Bear Interiors stocks all kinds of items, from contemporary seating to handblock-printed linen cushions, lacquered sideboards and storage by Spanish firm Verge and Bear Interiors’ own range of traditional and modern kitchen and dining tables. There is also nature-inspired textiles by Bristol-based Linen Prints, bone china tableware in fresh, zesty hues by local artist Katharine Pollen, minimalist shelving from Tom Becker, and clocks, storage, bookends and signage by London-based Goodwin + Goodwin.
Bear Interiors also specialises in bespoke joinery, which includes painted kitchens, media walls, playroom storage, libraries and home offices and one-off pieces of furniture. Co-founder Lynette Labuschagne is an interior designer with many years’ experience in both the domestic
and commercial sectors. She said: “We want to enable people to create their dream interior, whatever their budget, and we have the experience and creative skills to help them work out how to do that – whether they are trying to bring a dark, unloved corner to life or would like to fit out an entire room.”
The canny shoppers’ way to enjoy Christmas gift buying Mary Howard’s Christmas fairs are something of an institution among canny shoppers. Founded some 30 years ago by the late Mary Howard and her husband Patrick to raise money for the NSPCC, they have gone from strength to strength. This year’s fair is at Hullavington near Chippenham from 11 – 14 November. So popular are the fairs that entrance is by ticket only and people make a day out of it. The fairs also raise thousands of pounds for charities. One of the stallholders this year is Sara Oliver who runs La Belle Provence, bringing linens, ceramics, glassware and accessories made in the South of France to the UK. Her products include textiles from a family run textile house in Nice; handmade and hand-painted bowls
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La Belle Provence chinaware
and jugs from the Var; Savon de Marseille from the Drome and beautiful hand-painted bottles from the mountain village of Figaneries. Also at Hullavington is Somerset handbag company Peony & Moore. This British design house makes bags from Italian leather and has a following in the national
NOVEMBER 2012
Natalie Hero clutch by Peony & Moore
press, with a number of celebrities among its customers. Peony & Moore was launched by Lucy and Pam in 2009. Lucy said: “We love doing the Christmas fairs as not only do we get to meet our loyal customers we make some lovely new ones too. Through talking about our handbags we
identify the functions which are important to our customers. For example, we have light linings in all our handbags so you can see to the bottom, we have magnetic clasps underneath buckles to make it easier to open in a hurry when the phone is ringing.” Prices range from £69 to £235.