CRAFT SHOP Button Boutique is to remain open in Wellingborough after a neighbouring business stepped in to save it from closure.
Sarah Meehan, who runs Old and Quirky Antiques, has taken over the business with the intention of running it out of the shop so that townspeople will still have access to the craft supplies they need.
“We are going to keep it going because we want it in Wellingborough still,” she says. “Button Boutique has been in Wellingborough for a long time so it is part of Wellingborough and we did not want it to go.”
Jean Wilcox, who has owned Button Boutique since 2012, intended to retire at the end of September last year, meaning the business would require new ownership if it was to stay afloat. A deal with a potential new owner would have seen Button Boutique continue in its Silver Street premises but the agreement fell through at the last minute, leaving Button Boutique’s future in doubt.
The lease on Button Boutique’s shop should have ended on December 1 but was extended to ensure the transfer could be completed.
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Main picture: Sarah (left) and Jean are moving stock from Button Boutique to Old and Quirky Antiques in Silver Street, Wellingborough.
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Button Boutique has been a mainstay in the town for decades but has been in a state of transition as its stock was moved to Old and Quirky Antiques, only two doors away.
Sarah is taking over the business as a whole, not merely acquiring the stock, and intends to keep the service going using the premises as both Old and Quirky Antiques and Button Boutique.
“If we can find a bit of room to put it in here and help people then hopefully, fingers crossed, it expands further into the shop and helps the community,” Sarah says.
The move has delayed but not derailed Jean’s retirement. “Business was doing OK,” she says. “It was not massively successful but it was ticking over, which is what independents do. Luckily, Sarah stepped in.”
Adds the new owner: “It is a little business that has been going for years and if we can help it survive and hopefully get the customers back in again and into Wellingborough, it is a bonus. My wish is to be as popular as Jean.”