4th november was an exciting day for mel smith designs - i was booked to start selling my products in London store Things British. The location was Carnaby street, a trendy little area of the capital with lots of boutiques and stylish stores.
i was also spending the day researching shops and trends, and having just a good old catch up with fellow Smith, Liz (of e
llejane designs) ... so a full on day!
preparation started a couple of days before packaging up the goods. i was taking my new notebooks and tea towels. i will be renting for 2 months and rotating stock every 2 weeks to show off a design design.
first up - fat birdie and co! my feathers and birdie designs have received fantastic feedback so what better way to kick off the shop experience than to put them out there!
so off to london we went, a beautiful fresh autumns morning certainly was a lovely start. carnaby street is full of lovely shops, all too easy to get distracted and go shopping...but we had to focus on the mission!
the shop is situated on the first floor of Kingley Court amongst 30 other boutiques and numerous cafes and restaurants ... the perfect location to sell designer maker goods!
inside was a treasure trove of handmade and unique items - lots of jewellery, art prints, pin boards, greetings cards, i might even have bought a christmas there...but for which friend... ;)
set up didn't actually take too long - things british need to check all your stock is labelled up correctly with your unique designer/item code and everything is priced clearly for the customers. after that its left up to you to arrange the shelf as you please!
i treated myself and rented a spot in the window as well to get a little extra exposure..so now let's see what happens sales-wise! exciting and a little nerve-wracking at the same time...eek!
a quick stop for breakfast and then it was off to covent garden and leicester square for some shopping, uh, i mean research ;) ah, doesn't it look christmassy already?!
