“The dreams we have, and continue to work towards, are; getting a networking evening
organised (which we know we keep saying every month, growing our online platform, to
continue our ‘on tour’ partnerships with other organisations and to FINALLY one day….maybe one day… have our very own bricks and mortar shop! So watch this space and let's see where year two takes us!”
Love this – the above was written in a previous blog of when we turned one last year in June 2022! Just over a year and 4 months on, we are proud to be the co-owners of our very own Petworth Pop Up Shop – however we may need to change the name to Permanent Petworth Pop Up Shop! We didn’t quite think that one through! As the number of times customers have asked “how long you here for?” it does however give us the opportunity to tell our story of how we started out as a monthly makers market and the idea and business grew!
Having a permanent presence on a beautiful historic market town has given our business a whole new platform along with a set of exciting new challenges! (not to spend all our money on all the beautiful handmade items we get to sell in the shop!).
Opening the doors this June, was such an achievement and a real honour with so many of our stockists, old and new applying straight away to take part without even seeing the shop or even what it looked like! I think we can both safely say – we have done the space proud with our hard work as we scrubbed, painted, sanded, and turned what had been an unloved space for some time into something very special.
We are fortunate to have two rooms to spread and showcase so many wonderful businesses, with the added bonus of a back window – letting in so much natural light it really does make the spaces feel so dreamy and sweet. Since opening our doors, we have been overwhelmed with so many more stockists filling up the spaces making it an Aldin’s cave of pure handmade-ness – providing you with the ultimate gift shop!
The importance of our mission is to not only showcase, support and provide a platform for small independent growing businesses, it is also to change and shape the way we the consumer buy. With the curse of lockdown and ever growing internet, the growth of out-of-town retail units with vast budgets that can manipulate and monopolise rising costs and the markets – making it all too easy to purchase with one click or buying what you need whilst doing the weekly food shop.
We really want to make (us – you) – stop and think about the importance of buying locally, buying handmade and buying independently.
The benefits are not only that buying from an independent handmade business you’re supporting more often than not an individual, but you are also generally buying better quality - be it handstitched or hand poured – items like candles and skincare made by independents will be made using only pure ingredients and made in only small batches– less chemicals will have been added, the packaging will be more eco-friendly and the money you use to purchase it will be going back into the local economy.
Buying cards and prints will also be either handmade or printed using local printers or recycled or eco-friendly paper and inks.
Soft furnishings will be using either recycled fabric, locally printed using eco-friendly fabric and inks on a small batch scale.
Jewellery will be made using recycled silver or gold, ethically sourced gems and handcrafted using traditional methods.
Ceramics will be made the same – sourcing clay and glazes from the UK, making each piece totally unique.
The list could go on – but I think you get the meaning of this. So even if we can’t change completely as we are all guilty of never having enough time - being able to purchase online or in a big store can sometimes be our only option. But if we could all start to try to buy better it’s a start to a brighter future for what is essential to keeping our highstreets alive.
So please if you live local to Petworth, we would love you to visit our shop! Or you can very easily browse our online platform too! Where many of our stockist feature their items which you can buy easily with only a few clicks.
With Christmas not too far in the distance it’s a great time to start buying better! Buy handmade!
xxx