Former Victoria Market traders have left their stalls to open a shop in the heart of Nottingham city centre. Mother and daughter Sue Hallam and Toni Deakin have joined forces to run Creative Craft Corner in the former Post Office building in Queen Street.
Sue, 65, had haberdashery business Buttons 'n' Bobbins for 13 years, while Toni. 38, ran Hobbies and Crafts. Now they've combined to sell a huge range of products including fabric, wool, cross stitch kits, ribbons and card-making supplies. Sue said the move wasn't a knee-jerk reaction to the recent revelation that the market could close but the relief is palpable.
"We applied for this two years ago, that's how long it's taken because of Covid and because the building was sold to a new landlord. It's been on the cards for a while. We could see the footfall was going down in the market.
"We were on the front so we could see the footfall dropping both in the centre and the market. In January when they said they were taking in no new traders until they sorted out the market we knew it was time to go."
All the stock has been moved over from the market, with most of it filling the spacious shop but there's still some boxes in the back to unpack. Sue is loving is extra space and the location. She said: "The footfall is quite busy down here compared with over there. Buses coming along Parliament Street can see us and then there's buses going up and down here (Queen Street), it's the perfect spot for us. I love the light and fresh air.
"Now it's a case of filling up the gaps we've got and expanding on all the other things. If someone comes in and asks for something and we don't stock it, we'll then get it.
"It's a craft shop that has developed through people asking us for certain things and knowing there's nobody else that sells it, it just drives us forward. There have been so many negatives about the high street and we think that by moving on and into a bigger shop it shows that the high street is not yet dead and buried."
If you need buttons, Creative Craft Corner is the place to be, with a collection of 70,000 all colour coded. "We are quite proud of our buttons. Every time we see a new button that we haven't got we buy the whole range and split it up into colours. We have buttons like animals, cars, scissors and craft buttons from America," said Sue.
Shoppers can find decoupage kits, peel-off stickers, feathers, cotton, felt, zips, Velcro and bra extenders. And because the Queen's Platinum Jubilee is just around the corner, there's a mass of red white and blue, from bunting to Union Jack fabric. The shop also sells online on eBay and during the coronavirus lockdown the demand for craft materials rocketed. Sewing patterns in particular were popular, with £1,000 worth a day being sold.
The former Post Office closed down in May 2019, relocating to within WH Smith in Victoria Centre. Sue said some customers were still coming in asking for stamps and where the post box is (incidentally there's one just around the corner in Upper Parliament Street).
"It was all of a rush to try and get ready. When we came here all the Post Office stuff was still in here all behind the counter so we had to rip it all out. We'd closed over there and had students ringing us up asking when we were going to be open because they needed fabric so we opened before we really ready - it's an on-going project.
"There's nothing else like this in the city centre. John Lewis does haberdashery and Lakeland does a little bit of craft but nobody has haberdashery, fabric and crafts together and we're a family-run business. Things are picking up. We have left signs in the market saying we've moved here so a lot of people are going there and then coming here at the moment."
Son Glenn, 39, has sorted a large wooden measuring table in addition to the counter, which means they can serve more customers at the same time. "Before we had one long counter which was OK but if you got more than two customers you couldn't serve them," said Sue.
Many of the customers are fashion design students buying fabric - and Sharpies - and taking advantage of the ten per cent discount offered to them. There's also a discount for Blue Light card holders, who work for the NHS, police, fire and ambulance services.
Completing the line-up in the family business is Sue's sister-in-law Diane Coombs, who is helping out part-time.
Shoppers have welcomed the new shop. Jackie Fletcher, 70, of Lowdham, was looking for card-making supplies. The retired secretary said: "I love crafting. This is so nice. It's what we were short of in Nottingham. I used to go to the market stall. This is lovely. What's so nice is there is plenty of room to walk round and look at things and there's so much - everything you need really."
Mother-of-two Ruth Edginton, 45, of Lady Bay, was buying blue ribbon to make her son a jubilee sash. She often visited the market stall to pick of crafts for her children and the brownie group she leads.
"I feel mixed because it's a fantastic facility to have such a massive store with everything in it and there's more room to look around things but at the same time I'm a big fan of the market and taking it out there has depleted it. The more you take out the worse it's going to be but it's amazing to have all of this in this space - it's a great space."
The market is under threat of closure, after Nottingham City Council revealed it needed to save estimated running costs amounting to £39m over the remaining 50 years of the current agreement.
A six-week consultation will come to an end early next month and in the meantime more than 1,500 people have signed a petition in a bid to save the market and the remaining traders' livelihoods.
