A family business is proving there is life in the high street by opening a second shop in the same town.
Tilley & Grace, which sells women's clothing such as jumpers and ponchos as well as scarves, jewellery and bags, has announced it is opening a new shop in Holt. It will be opening in premises next to Byfords on Shirehall Plain - formerly occupied by estate agents Sowerbys before it relocated across the road.
But Tilley & Grace, which also has stores in Aldeburgh, Southwold and Woodbridge in Suffolk, will be keeping its existing store in Pound House, Market Place, Holt, towards the other end of town, open too.
The business, founded by husband and wife Perry and Sally Hicks six years ago, has made a name for itself offering colourful, sensibly priced, items for ladies. It hopes to open the new bigger store in a couple of weeks keeping its existing shop, next to Anna clothes store, as an 'outlet' store. This will sell the shop's discontinued ranges for a reduced price.
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Owner Sally Hicks said: "We needed larger premises and the footfall is a little bit greater at that end of Holt so I think it will be a lovely addition to the town which is really on the up."
Mrs Hicks, whose daughters Sarah, Emily and Grace, all work within the business, also operates a successful wholesale division, which in fact accounts for half the entire business. She said this year turnover for all of the shops combined was almost £2m.
The stores are named after the Hicks' youngest daughter Grace and their dog Tilley.
Mrs Hicks said: "Business has never been so good, it has exceeded all my dreams. We now supply between 700-800 firms around the UK. I started by just going to events taking jewellery and scarves and then we opened a pop-up shop which we closed in a couple of weeks but I got so many emails from people, there was so much demand for a shop, that we have opened a new one each year.
"We do colour really well, our shops are a joy to come into, our staff dress the shops really well and are happy and helpful and we position ourselves in lovely locations where people want to visit, we are open seven days a week and I think people are looking for value. Because our prices are reasonable, people think they can afford to treat themselves."
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