It was great to meet another wife and husband team who are part of the growing group of new independents opening up in town and city centres we’re supporting on tackling highstreet vacancy…
Our lead image is Bea and Adrian at HoneyBea “creating beautiful candles made from natural beeswax” in their shop on Castle Street, Tredegar, one of 3 new openings on that street already this year with another to follow soon.
Like one of their near neighbours, The Painted Lady Tattoo Parlour & Art Gallery and a number of the new openings in other locations, they’re going beyond retail to offer classes and workshops and they’ve also just added the offer of sales space to help local crafters begin their own town centre journey.
As they put it: “At Honey Bea Art Gallery, we know how difficult it can be for new artists and crafters to get noticed and start selling their work. That’s why we want to create a space that helps you take that first step.”
These stories are part of a HighStreetPositives theme we’re seeing from both independents and some brands…
- Add variety to your offer by sharing space and collaborating with other businesses;
- Build new audiences, strengthen your community and draw on the interest in experiential with classes and workshops;
- And do one or both to create additional income streams, attract customers at different times of the day or week and, maybe, make use of parts of your building – typically upper floors – that you otherwise might not.
From a tackling vacancy perspective the part of our ‘alternative’ / additional uses list that is arts & crafts, creative, culture, community looks, for a number of reasons, to be a really promising go-to option for ‘place partnership’ teams thinking about ways to fill empty spaces.
It’d be good to hear examples from your town and city centres…
