To take an empty shop & fill it with local crafts

Aim

Help us take on a big empty shop and make it fabulous! We want to host lots of local crafters, regular craft workshops and a tearoom space!

About me- Hi I'm Vicki, I am a little mad bonkers, but I'll tell you a little secret....  all the best people are! I am a vintage fan, crafter, coffee drinker, deep thinker, earring maker and furniture painter! I am looking to open up a new BIGGER shop in one of the empty buildings on the High Street in Rugby to host lots of Rugby/Warwickshire based small businesses, selling their locally handmade items.

The more we raise, the bigger the shop we go for!  

With the move to a big shop, we will be able to offer the opportunity of selling on the High street to many local crafters and artists, filling the town with unique, exciting and vibrant goodies and a really enjoyable shopping experience where you can find one off and unusual items for that perfect gift, or a treat for yourself. 

New business venture- Craft workshop space!

Our next step is also to offer workshop space, with regular craft workshops and also hosting local craft groups, such as knit and natter. We feel these things are really valuable for people's mental health and wellbeing, having a couple of hours off from life, to sit, create, chat and drink tea with a group of people. How often do we do that? Not often enough hey?

Also- communal tables where we can host regular workshops and craft lessons, available to book onto or to book as a group event, such as hen party, birthday celebration etc. Communal tables are a fantastic way of encouraging people to interact and be nice to other people. To pass the sugar and share your thoughts. To pull up a chair and offer a listening ear. We would love to bring this to our town. 

In a time of little funding in mental health, I am looking to support what we can do for ourselves, as a community.

The Team- On a daily basis it is myself (Vicki, owner) and our trusty Dorrian (fellow crafter and legendary staff member) who run the shop. We have a couple of volunteers who help with making and painting as part of their own wellbeing improvements. 

The bigger team will consist of many local crafters and makers, whose goodies we will stock in store and sell to you, our customers. We have a variety of makers, glass, silversmith, jewellery, soaps, candles, mugs and much much more! We are hoping to host a team of at least 50 local crafters! 

The idea- To take on one of the BIG empty shop spaces in our beautiful town and make it fabulous! offering up selling spaces to small independents to join us as well as being able to offer a huge variety of different items to our customers. 

Tea and cake with that? 

If we raise enough.....A vintage tearoom will also be incorporated into our space, complete with proper cups and saucers and even a little 'book nook' quiet space for you to relax in. Our tearoom will also offer a layaway service, where you can pay for a cuppa, or a treat to be put aside for someone who needs it. By this, we don't just mean someone who can't afford it, we mean anyone who needs it! A mum having a bad day, a chap in a crisis, a damsel in distress, or anyone who is having a difficult time and could benefit from a sit down with a cuppa or a treat (or both) and take 5 minutes to re-assess life. Our layaway service will be called 'On the rocks' as it is designed to be there for people stuck between a rock & a hard pace, feeling a bit rocky, going through a storm etc.

The vision- To create a space that the hole community can use and also be proud of. To have somewhere to take your friends to show them what Rugby has to offer. A space to go and visit on your own on a bad day, but not sit alone. To bring together and support as many local makers and small businesses as we can. 

Your money- Will be pledged to our small businesses, to buy them a space to sell their items. To pay for the communal tables that will be used by you, our community. Or to buy yourself a VIP (VIB, Very important birds) loyalty badge, earning you 10% off for a year! Or you can buy yourself a workshop space to come along and join us. 

We will be using the funds raised to buy essentials, like shop fittings, tables and chairs of course. To source equipment and book in tutors for the workshops, and also we will use the money to secure a deposit and lease to take on one of our empty buildings and secure it’s future and ours, in the town we love. We will transform an empty shop into a community space to be proud of, making it look inviting and giving the High street the Wow factor that it needs to revitalise it.

We are on the hunt for a better Rugby town centre... are you coming with us? 

This project successfully funded on 1st May 2020