Independent jewellery retailer and Pentlands’ client, Fabulous, plans to re-open week commencing June 15th, if government guidelines permit. Owner Jo Stroud has had Perspex screens installed at both till-points, and branded pink floor stickers printed, to remind customers about social distancing. Pink face masks for staff, hand sanitiser available for customers, and frequent disinfecting of surfaces, are also part of the new safety measures, along with new contactless PDQ machines with the higher £45 limit to minimise cash transactions.
As Jo explains, “We were able to furlough the whole store team when we had to close the shop, which has been a lifeline for small businesses like ours. But we have been very fortunate that we already had a busy ecommerce website, www.fabulouscollections.co.uk, which has been trading at over 80% up on last year, so two of us have remained in the office each day, to fulfil web orders.
Our own-brand of jewellery, Mantra, has also been flying during this lockdown period, with our Mantra website www.mantrajewellery.co.uk trading at over 100% up on last year. Mantra is positive, uplifting jewellery, and seems to have really resonated with people looking for thoughtful gifts and motivational messages, during these challenging weeks of lockdown.”
Store and Product Manager, Anna, has worked with Jo throughout the lockdown period, and has enjoyed the opportunity to keep busy throughout the past few weeks. “My husband is a manager at Asda, so has been on the very busy supermarket front line from the start. With him working such long hours, I have been very grateful to be so busy with our online orders for both our websites.”
The store team is looking forward to getting back to work, and Jo is hoping customers will be keen to come back out shopping, to give them a change of scene. “Leamington is such a lovely town for shopping, and with its wide streets and our wonderful outdoor spaces and beautiful parks, it’s a very easy town in which to enjoy some socially-distanced shopping”.
