A new trader initiative gets underway this week when shops in the town will start to open late on the first Thursday of the month.
Tracy Stant, owner of the ladieswear shop Josie, came up with the idea to offer shoppers greater flexibility from independent businesses with their opening hours.
Having unveiled her idea to other businesses in the town Tracy was excited to see that the idea quickly gained traction with other local businesses who showed their support and were keen to get involved as part of the Stone Traders Group.
Nicola Lewis of Mirella offered to help Tracy spearhead the campaign, offering some initial wisdom into how to make the campaign work for the many and not just a few.
The Stone Traders Group (STG) is a group of independent business owners with businesses in Stone that meet each month to discuss ways of working to improve the town centre, liaising with the Town Council, Borough Council & the Travel & Tourism committee.
The plan is for a focused campaign centered around opening late one night a month. The hope is that the later hours will allow busy Stone residents and visitors access to local shops in an evening. Often prospective customers have work, childcare or other commitments and are therefore unable to shop in the town during the normal trading hours.
Eventually, it is hoped that all businesses will take part in the late night opening. Currently, 21 businesses have signed up to the campaign who wouldn’t normally be open, along with many hairdressers, beauty salons, restaurants & bars/pubs who are already open during these hours.
Some businesses will be open until 8 pm, but the recommendation is that shoppers check with independent businesses to find out what time they will be staying open until to avoid any disappointment.
An easy way to do this is by following them on Social media or giving them a call to check in advance.
The hope is that as word gets out and businesses get busier, that more businesses will follow suit and join in with the initiative and stay open later.
The following businesses will be open:
- Apple A Day Juice Bar
- Beth Lauren Cakes
- The Bike Shack
- Evangelines
- Granvilles
- Griffins of Stone
- Jolu Accessories Boutique
- Josie
- Just Carla
- Man A Boot Town
- Mirella
- Mr Simms Olde Sweet Shop
- Plants the Jewellers
- Posy
- Simon David Hairdressing
- Stone Baked Cafe
- The Artisan Boutique
- The Beauty Loft
- Yum Yum’s
- Thoughts
- Tylman of Stone.
The beauty of late night opening is free parking! The Stafford Borough Council offer free parking after 5.30 pm on both Crown Street & Christchurch Way car parks. There is also free on-street parking on Station Road by Granville Square after 4 pm, as well as the free ” All Day” car park on Northesk Street.
If you’re not able to make it down tomorrow night, then we wholeheartedly recommend that you follow the Stone Independent Traders Facebook page for all the latest updates from your favourite traders. Alternatively, call or pop into town and visit them, they are a friendly bunch who love to share all the positive points and events that are going on in the town.
Despite some peoples perception of the town centre Stone statistically is still fairing better than many other towns nationwide.
The last year has been a tough one with several businesses closing their doors, the reduction in bus services, the loss of the co-op and post office etc.
However, there’s a lot of positives taking place in the town, and we welcome the forthcoming late nights and new businesses taking up empty units over the coming months.
This past 12 months we have seen a number of businesses open their doors… Beth Lauren Cakes, Man A Boot Town, Just Carla, The Artisan Boutique, Vantage Creative, The Loft Tea Room and of course M & S Food & Cafe. We’ve also had a number of businesses move into better locations…. Apple A Day, The Beauty Loft, Jolu, with Mirella set to move into the old Nat West bank unit later this autumn too.
Finally, we are also looking forward to the arrival of Bear coffee, B&M, and getting our Post Office back this October!
If you haven’t been in town for a while, it may be worth having a look at all the great businesses that are there; we have some real gems!
Tracy Stant, of Josie, said:
” Following the success of the late night shopping events this summer, and the ever changing needs of our customers, I together with other retailers, feel our customers would benefit from an evening to shop outside of the normal operating hours.
“We want to add some flexibility to residents of Stone, and hope that those who would prefer to shop outside the usual hours can do so. Hopefully our initial trial of staying open on the first Thursday of every month until Christmas will prove worthwhile.If so, we hope to make the evenings a more permanent event on the calendar for 2019″
Nicola Lewis, of Mirella, adding:
“The plan to open late on the 1st Thursday of every month was to make it easy for Stone residents & visitors to understand when the town would be open for business.
“Everyone knows that the Farmers market is the first Saturday, so it made sense to follow that winning formula…using the first Thursday as our guide. It’s also a time in the month when most people have the means to go shopping, as the majority of people generally receive their wages at the end of each month, although we know this doesn’t apply to everyone.
“Tracy & I would also like to take this opportunity to thank all our fellow traders for being so very responsive and open to the late night shopping events, and also to Martyne Manning from Stafford Borough Council for all her help & support in funding the marketing of the late night events through the flyers & posters.”
