‘Exclusively Vintage’ at Blakemere Craft Centre
Jenny White was made redundant in May this year after 18 years of employment. Going from quite a stressful job she didn’t really wish to go back into that line of work. She registered with her local job centre where her adviser helped her find ways of looking for jobs. In June whilst on holiday she discovered a shop called "Vintage Style" which sold
pre-owned designer and high street quality clothing, shoes and accessories.
As Jenny says ‘I have always enjoyed searching for bargains from charity shops, car boot
sales and now eBay and have often wondered about setting myself up in business doing just that. When I got home I looked around at units in my local area with affordable rents. I found one on Blakemere Village and reserved a place.
I spoke with my adviser when I next visited the job centre and he put me in touch with Blue Orchid. I met up with a guy the following week and he signed me up. I then attended a business planning workshop where I started writing my business plan.
I met my adviser Debbie Clayton-Priestly who helped and supported me whilst I was setting up and eventually they took me on’.
Jenny has since signed off JSA and received NEA New enterprise allowance whilst starting off. Her unit "Exclusively Vintage" opened at the end of August 2013 and has gone from strength to strength.
She has reached her target and has gone beyond her predicted cash flow. Jenny successfully applied for a start-up gran from Cheshire West and Chester and four weeks later she received a cheque for £500 which helped her purchase a banner and furniture for her new unit and helped her expand.
‘I have recently attended a Media Marketing course organised by the Council which was fantastic and i'm hoping to attend a book keeping course in the near future. I love what I do and i can now see that it is going to be a success’ Jenny White