The Story Behind The Business - Sally-Ann Longden: Stick and Ribbon

Have the courage to make the changes YOU deserve!

The Story Behind The Business - Sally-Ann Longden: Stick and Ribbon

The Story Behind The Business - Sally-Ann Longden: Stick and Ribbon

In this interview, Sally talks about what inspired her to start her award winning ladieswear business and shares some insight into her business journey so far.


Share...         Turn on Javascript!


Sally-Ann Longden is the owner of independent ladieswear boutique Stick and Ribbon. From a career in financial services, Sally now runs a successful ladieswear and personal styling business in the heart of Nottingham's City centre. I caught up with Sally to ask her about her business journey so far.

Sally Longden - Stick and Ribbon

Describe your business in one sentence

Helping ladies create a wardrobe of clothes that fit them well, suit their life and they want to wear again and again via our independent boutique, online store and personal styling service.

What inspired you to start your business?

The original business started out as a joint venture with a friend.  It started as a private shopping and personal styling business and, within time, we opened our first boutique.  My career to that point had been in financial services so moving into a fashion retail was a big change.

In the summer of 2014, we were at the point of a break clause in our lease and my business partner decided to leave to go back to the corporate world.  We were planning to end the business but I was inspired to continue as I thoroughly enjoyed the work we were doing.  We agreed that I would continue with the events (fashion shows, ladies lunches) and the online presence.  However, I found a vacant unit in Bridlesmith Walk, Nottingham and the rest is history!

Describe your typical day

There is no typical day!

However, I normally start checking emails to see if there have been any overnight orders on the website/via our other online partners, checking social media etc.

If I’m not due in the shop, I will be either working from home, meeting with various people regarding marketing or our website for example, or on buying trips and meeting with suppliers which normally take place in London.

I normally go into the shop 2/3 times a week to catch up with the team, do my fair share of shop duty (which I love as it’s the time I get to meet the customers), generally catch up with other local independent retail business owners – we have a real passion for keeping the independent community lively in Nottingham. It’s what makes our city different.

At least once a week, we will have evening commitments in the shop with group or individual styling sessions – we take groups of up to 8 ladies for a fun evening of style advice (and shopping, of course!) – or maybe a charity fashion show/ladies evening.

I am also a regular guest on the sofa on Notts TV evening chat show, BBC Radio Nottingham’s Mark Dennison ‘Loose Ladies’ and I’ve also been on BBC Radio 5 Live Wake up to Money and Drivetime shows to discuss high street retail and independents.  This is a great way of getting your face and business to a wider audience.  It’s a bit scary to start with but you soon get used to it!  We had a great time recently when we were asked by BBC Radio Nottingham to cover the fashion element of Prince Harry and Meghan’s visit to Nottingham.  More recently, I was also asked to appear on a pre-Budget chat on BBC Breakfast with Steph McGovern – now that was a very nerve wracking moment!

What has been the best moment of your business so far?

Oh that’s a difficult one because there have been so many things that have happened over recent times.  The BBC Breakfast morning was definitely one of the most recent highlights.

The best moments for me are when we get feedback from ladies who keep coming back to the shop because they love what we do.  What better compliment can we have than that someone wears everything they buy from us!

What are you most excited about in your business plans for the next few months?

We have a couple of things going on in the background which we can’t announce yet – eek!

Social media is playing a big part in our success at the moment, so we are really excited about continuing with this momentum and getting a few other ideas we have off the ground.

Also, a few of our brands are sending their teams and ambassadors to the shop this summer so we’ll be organising some fashion shows and events around their visits.

Sally Longden - Stick and Ribbon

Which 3 business (or other) books would you recommend to other business owners?

Oh gosh, I’m not really into reading business books – maybe I should!  I’m very much a gut-reaction person so if it feels right to me then it’s worth a go.  

Reading to me is for pleasure – normally I only read on holiday – and it’s my time to relax to maybe that’s why I don’t like reading business books?

Most of my reading is on the internet and magazine based as this keeps me updated with fashion and retail trends.  An ever-changing world means we are kept on our toes to ensure we are reactive when we need to be.

If you could start your business all over again, what's the one thing you would do differently?

I really don’t think there is much I would do differently.  We are what we are because of the experiences we have had.  Owning and running a business is a big learning curve and bad times can only make us stronger.  I always feel that making a mistake can be a good thing as long as you learn from it.  It’s good to make mistakes when you are small so it’s not too costly!

 

Thank you Sally!

To find out more about Stick and Ribbon head over to the website or pop into the gorgeous boutique at 4 Bridlesmith Walk in Nottingham and meet Sally and her team.

Until next time

Val


    Comments (0)


Add a Comment





Allowed tags: <b><i><br>Add a new comment:



Latest News

Tags

Archives