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Small Enterprise sat down with Ruby Friel, founding father of Nonetheless Life, one of many three winners of the Sage x Small Enterprise pop-up store competitors.
The successful companies have been chosen by our professional panel to occupy a pop-up store house in Edinburgh’s St James Quarter in the course of the festive interval.
Nonetheless Life focuses on well-made merchandise that usually use pure supplies and native assets.
A former florist and product designer, Ruby has travelled the world for inspiration, exploring impartial boutiques to supply Nonetheless Life’s merchandise.
Ruby opened up the store in March 2020 when she was on maternity go away along with her daughter, Edie. Now she’s joined by Luca, an artist and creator, and Rebecca, a florist. They intention to supply a pleasant, welcoming and inclusive buying expertise.
Inform us extra about you and what you are promoting
I’m Ruby and I’m from Nonetheless Life. We’re a homewares and life-style retailer in Stockport. We promote design-led homewares and life-style merchandise from manufacturers the world over. We additionally champion small native music makers.
What made you wish to enter the competitors?
We’ve got needed to do a pop-up for fairly a very long time. Once I noticed the competitors, I believed, ‘Sensible, it is a nice solution to trial it with some assist.’ I simply needed to see what the enterprise was able to with the next footfall. I wish to increase sooner or later, and it offers me just a little little bit of an perception into what may be a good suggestion to increase into or how you can develop.
How did you are feeling concerning the pop-up being in Edinburgh?
One in all my workers, Rebecca, loves Edinburgh. It was sensible as a result of she’s going to be the one doing it. That’s good. She’d additionally been to the centre, and he or she mentioned that it was a extremely, very nice place to do it. It’s only a stunning place to return. So yeah, joyful!
What does the win imply to you?
It was very nice to have the popularity. I feel somebody from Sage mentioned that Nonetheless Life was an fascinating model with fascinating advertising and good potential to scale. That was a extremely, very nice praise to listen to.
To know that my workers are going to get a deal with as properly, which goes to Edinburgh for every week. So yeah, actually good.
What are the primary takeaways you hope to get from the occasion?
The primary issues which can be good for us to get out of it are hopefully some gross sales, clearly. However then seeing what the enterprise is able to in an space of upper footfall, but in addition seeing how folks react to that. The place we’re, and the type of store that we’re, we appeal to a really particular buyer. Are we industrial sufficient to be in an space the place there’s a number of several types of prospects round? It’s a extremely good studying alternative from that viewpoint.
Why do you assume it’s necessary for manufacturers like Sage and Small Enterprise to champion small companies?
I feel it’s actually necessary for greater firms that work with small firms to work together and discuss to one another about what works for both aspect in order that each either side can get their mannequin and their communication with one another actually clean and helpful to one another.
But additionally, as a small enterprise, you’re all the time going to must work with some large firms as properly. And simply to know that they recognise what you might be they usually see for what you might be, they usually perceive what you are promoting is de facto useful. The issues that they do or say or the best way they strategy you, they’re approaching it with some data relatively than only a company large enterprise type of mindset.
Extra on the Sage pop-up store competitors
Sage pop-up store winner #1 – Kirsty Fergusson, GET IT GRL – Kirsty Fergusson, founding father of personalised reward and ladies’s put on model, GET IT GRL, talks to Small Enterprise about her pop-up store win
Sage pop-up store winner #3 – Pete Allison, Woven Whisky – Pete Allison, co-founder of blended whisky agency, Woven Whisky, talks to Small Enterprise about their pop-up store win
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