BEST NEW RETAIL BUSINESS
AWARDS 2021
FINALIST
THE SLOBBERY DOG
Resolution Media and Publishing non-executive director Bob Cuffe presents Joanne Bell , owner of the Audrey Alice Clothing Boutique , with the Best New Retail Business award .
WINNER
AUDREY ALICE CLOTHING BOUTIQUE
An all-natural canine raw feeding and holistic specialist store , the Slobbery Dog in Norton was created and launched by former dog groomer Sarah Luke in April 2020 , during the first Covid lockdown .
In just over a year of trading , Sarah has amassed more than 500 customers and the store moved into larger premises in August 2021 .
Each month the company continues to grow and has created two jobs so far , with hopes of more within the next year . The company plans to serve customers nationwide via their new website , along with supporting existing local customers and hopefully opening more stores elsewhere in the country .
Audrey Alice is an independent womenswear boutique based in Saltburn , specialising in handpicked contemporary fashion pieces from top designer brands .
Owner Joanne Bell had dreamed of owning her own boutique and plucked up the courage to open Audrey Alice in October 2020 , building an online presence from scratch .
The Milton Street boutique has since gone from strength to strength and in June 2021 , Joanne recruited her first member of staff , Katie , via the Kickstart scheme .
She now plans to recruit another member of staff and open a footwear store , creating more local jobs .
And Joanne admits it was an “ amazing feeling ” to get an award after a “ crazy 12 months ”.
She said : “ Yes , it was a bit rocky at times – we opened , we closed , we opened again – but now we ’ re building up our client base , we ’ ve got Christmas fairs coming up . It ’ s all really encouraging .”
Joanne said that building a social media presence “ helped massively ” during the times the boutique was closed .
She explained : “ When we first opened the store last October , it closed within four weeks , but we had no social media presence , no website . We then put everything onto social media , sold online for the first few weeks and things really started to pick up .
“ We opened up again in December but still did a lot of online sales . And after that , it ’ s all just gone from strength to strength – and now we ’ ve won an award , I can ’ t believe it !”
FINALIST
SUGAR NOMS
Sugar Noms offers 100 per cent vegan confectionery , both online and in-store , from the Palace Hub on Redcar seafront .
Kay Tarry launched the business during the first lockdown when her therapy business was unable to practice face-to-face .
Sugar Noms has now grown hugely , and Kay has moved into producing her own range of chocolate as well as stocking the largest variety of vegan sweets available online – all while she continues to work full-time as a trauma therapist .
Committed to using 100 per cent plastic-free , home-compostable packaging , in June 2021 Sugar Noms partnered with Carbon Click to help customers offset the carbon from their order .
The voice of business in the Tees region | 93