BUSINESS IN BRIEF
SET DESIGNER PUTS
WEST KIRBY FLORIST
BUSINESS ON THE MARKET
KETTLE DESIGN SCOOPS
TOP AWARD FOR WIRRAL
INTERIOR DESIGN PROJECT
CREDIT: ROJ SMITH
A Wirral businesswoman has put her West Kirby florist
shop on the market to enable her to focus on her growing
set and costume design business. Jenefer Baker has
instructed Blacks Business Brokers, the national business
transfer specialist, to find a new owner for Lavender Blue
Floral Design with a guide price of £35,000 to take over
the lease.
Lavender Blue, which is located on The Crescent in West Kirby, has
been owned and operated by Miss Baker since 2009. Prior to that
the premises had housed another floristry business for many years.
In parallel with Lavender Blue, Miss Baker has recently established
another business that provides set and costume design services for
photographers and independent filmmakers. She now wishes to sell
the floristry business in order to focus full-time on her new enterprise.
According to Miss Baker there are several ways a new owner could
grow the business, which turned over £77,407 in its most recent
financial year and currently employs one part-time member of staff in
addition to herself. One way of increasing footfall would be to follow
the lead taken by many of Lavender Blue’s West Kirby neighbours and
increase its opening hours from five to seven days per week. She also
says there is demand to increase the area covered by the shop’s delivery
service and to subscribe to a third-party relay service such as Interflora.
Weddings represent another area that, according to Miss Baker, has so-
far been under-exploited.
She said, “I get inundated with wedding enquiries but turn a lot of these
down to concentrate on my new business. The current turnover comes
mostly from day-to-day shop sales for gifts but there is a whole other
market ready for the taking for a business owner that wishes to take on
more weddings and events.”
Lavender Blue sources its flowers direct from suppliers in Holland and
has a reputation for stocking unusual varieties. It also sells a range of
locally made gifts and cards, the majority of which are unique to the
shop. All enquiries should be directed to Blacks Business Brokers on
0333 370 0000, quoting reference 6617.
80 wirrallife.com
Kettle Design has won an award for its outstanding
interior design work on a residential property in Hoylake.
The Heswall based company, which celebrates its 12th anniversary this
year, was presented with the best Residential Interior Design Project
less than £150k at the Northern Design Awards. The prestigious
awards bring together designers, retailers and property developers in
a celebration of Northern style, innovation and design. The judging
panel included designers Wayne Hemingway, George Bond, Linda
Parker, Nick Munro and BIID President Gilly Craft.
Kettle Design is run by Suzanne Mercer and her team of architects,
designers, artists and engineers. The award was in recognition of the
company’s work to transform the lounge and dining room of a house
in Hoylake into two distinct spaces.
Suzanne said: “We were delighted that our work on this project
caught the eye of the Northern Design Awards. Our clients wanted
to transform two rooms in their house which weren’t working for
them anymore. The brief was to turn a rather cold sitting room into
a comfortable and relaxing place and to redesign their dining room
into a stylish place to eat and entertain guests. The main requirement
was to make each room distinctive but to also make them feel linked.
"We love challenges like this. We made both spaces more intimate,
added a fireplace to give focus to the sitting room, installed a flat
screen television above it, wrapped a bespoke sofa around the faceted
windows and added a bespoke rug. In the alcoves we lined the
wall with statement wallpaper made from real banana leaves while
the dining room walls were covered with dark linen paper. To give
both rooms added wow factor we laid the most beautiful bleached
oak herringbone floor that feels blissful underfoot and installed a
stunning piece of bronze sculpture by Bruges artist Jacques Vanroose.
The project was completed on time and within budget and the client
was so delighted with the finished result that they have asked us to
declutter and transform other areas of their home.”