A new home for fledgling retailers is up and running after an enterpreneurial family took over the former M and Co shop unit in Sleaford.
Father and son team Alan and Lee Taylor have taken on the building to turn it into a community, skills and retail hub.
The first phase has been to create an indoor market for new traders wanting to start up their business and build their customer base at less risk.
Alan said: “We opened on December 1 for the Christmas market and it was full of traders and this Saturday we will be full again. We have quite a few signing up including a lady selling Avon cosmetics starting in January and another selling men’s and women’s clothes.”
Some are making it a regular base while others are doing ‘pop ups’, such as Bouchra Nasr, who is selling traditional Moroccan food on Wednesdays and Thursdays.
She said: “This is my first business having worked in a kitchen in Morocco, so I am starting small.”
Another Sleaford resident, Caroline Coster, is selling younger children’s clothing. “I have had really good feedback from the community and I aim to offer good quality, affordable items,” she said.
Ben Priest runs Spin-A-Disc 420 selling records, T-shirts and games. He said: “It was a bit slow at first but word is getting around.”
The next stage is to move Alan and Lee’s parcel courier service Press 2 Play, from Riverside Precinct in January, which they expect will create extra footfall.
They are also in talks with Grantham College to open upstairs to teach career skills to adults.
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