Hi Gillian, can you tell us about yourself and what inspired you to set up your business?
I’m Gillian, I have two teenage children and two step children. I live in Benton in Newcastle and am married to Peter. We have two dogs Lily and Bella.
I used to have a shop years ago, when my children were small. It started off as a shoe shop, then we moved on to selling clothes and bags. Due to a sudden change at home, I had to sell the lease on the shop and return to working at the council for a few years. But my heart was in retail and I had loved working for myself. I often found myself wondering “What if …?” – I was missing running my own business.
I started looking around for a new premises in various locations such as Jesmond, Gosforth and Morpeth but everything was far too expensive. Peter started to help me look and, by chance, he found a premises available for rent on Newgate Street in Morpeth. It was perfect! So we took on the tenancy in June of 2015 and by August we had opened for business as Ampersand. I love it, it’s brilliant to have my own shop again. Feedback from everyone who walks in through the door has been fantastic, I’ve had wonderful compliments from customers saying how much they love it and that Ampersand is just what Morpeth needed. We sell cards, gifts, jewellery, toys and unique pieces for your home. Many of the things we sell are produced by local suppliers, for example we stock candles by Alkamy from Whitley Bay, Elsee craft cards from Whitley Bay, Tutti homewares from North Shields and Chocolate Smiths chocolate made in Northumberland.
Everybody says that I’m a good shopper so I thought I might as well open a shop then :-).
What tips would you give other women who are thinking about setting up their own business?
Do your homework. I spent a lot of time finding the right location for Ampersand. The cheapest premises aren’t always the best. I picked our location because M&S, free car parking and a couple of fantastic coffee shops are nearby and there is a post office in the shop next door – all these things mean that we get a lot of footfall past our shop and many people have dropped in as they pass by. I have a big shop front, which is painted a very distinctive colour to help me stand out and attract people’s attention.
Love what you sell and what you do. I only ever buy stock that I love and that I am passionate about and I sell everything at a price that I would be prepared to pay myself – my prices are all very fair. For example, I personally wouldn’t buy a cashmere throw for £250.00 so I don’t expect my customers to pay that either. My customers know and appreciate that they can visit my shop and buy beautiful items and gifts at a fair price. This can mean that my prices are slightly lower than some other shops and department stores, which means that my margins are a bit smaller, but this has helped me build a really loyal customer base of people who chose to keep coming back to Ampersand. I also do a customer loyalty scheme. I value my customers enormously and treat them as I would hope to be treated myself.
Don’t lose sight of your vision. When business is quiet, hold your nerve and don’t start stocking cheap stock if you set out to sell quality items at a fair price. During these quiet times, keep your spirits up by re-reading the cards you’ve had from happy customers and the compliments you received on Facebook. Stay focussed and remind yourself that people love what you sell for a reason and they will come back. Quiet times are also when you should try and be most pro-active – I’ve used quiet days in January to plan ahead for the year, I’ve already ordered items ready for this Christmas, and I use the quiet time to do stock taking, design displays and do my admin.
We love your branding and all the beautiful things you sell – what are the benefits of the internet for your business?
The reason I applied for the Be Digital programme is to learn about online marketing and how my business can grow from doing more things over the internet. I know that, with some training and a little time, I can do so much more. At the moment I use Facebook to keep in touch with my customers and promote Ampersand by sharing photos of new stock, special offers and fun, quirky things – it’s not all sell, sell, sell – I much prefer to have a conversation with my customers rather than push a hard sell. I’ve just started using Canva to design eye catching images with accompanying text, which I share on Facebook.
I order a lot of my stock online, which saves me a lot of time. I go to trade shows for new ideas and to find new suppliers. I like to make lots of notes on the day and then go home and research their stock and place orders online. This works really well for me as it gives me time to really think about what my customers would love to buy when they visit Ampersand.
I’m learning so much from the Springboard Programme, and I’m particularly enjoying the work we have done around creating an ideal, customer focussed website. This is something I really wanted to get out of the programme and I am now much more confident about creating a great website.
What are your future plans for Ampersand?
The website is a big one – my target is to have this launched this October, just over a year after I started the business. I’ve lots of ideas and can’t wait to to have the website up and running – it will be a great way to showcase all of the wonderful products I sell from local suppliers. If the website takes off well then hopefully that will enable me to expand the business and grow the Ampersand team.
I’m also developing the Ampersand branding and creating my own line of exclusive, pretty jewellery – it’s beautiful and I think my customers will love it.
Eds note – During our interview for this article, a regular customer came in to say hello and bought some cards from Gillian, saying that “This is my favourite shop in Morpeth” .
Photographs by Rachel of RJM Photography.
Name of interviewee: Gillian McCowie
Business name: Ampersand
Facebook: www.facebook.com/AmpersandGifts
Twitter: twitter.com/Ampersandretail
Business type: Home Ware & Gifts
Location: Morpeth, Northumberland