Interview with young shop owner

Seven months after graduating from the London College of Fashion, Harriet Sanders opened her accessories shop in London's fashionable Carnaby Street shopping village in February 2010. She was encouraged to undertake the challenge when three of her bags were chosen to be sold online as part of the ASOS.com Limited 100 Competition/Collaboration with LCF, and one bag sold in seconds. Now with her own store, she took a minute from the action at Clothes Show London to tell RetailChoice a little about the experience of setting up and managing her first store.

Q. What kind of things do you choose to sell in your shop?
A. We sell all types of accessories, concentrating on handbags. We also like to offer options for young designers to sell their stuff within the store. But we try to make it all around my bags, which at the moment include my line of Gladbags.

Q. How has it been going so far?
A. The volcano had an impact on tourism, which wasn't so good for us. But it's been going up now.

Q. What surprised you most about the process of setting up a shop?
A. Nothing really surprised me. We had prepared for everything. I had a lot of support behind me as well – I have a lot of family support and friends. My mum is my business partner, and so that always helps. She's run a successful business for the last 20-odd years so she knew what she was doing.

Q. In your opinion, what makes a good employee?
A. Enthusiasm and the ambition to do better. The girl I have working with me – it's her ambition to be with a company that is growing. She wants to learn the different areas of the business. So long as someone comes across as interested in all aspects of the business, wants to get involved and finds nothing too big a challenge. That's what's most important to me.

Q. When will you know you are ready to expand and open another shop?
A. Not for a year or so – I want to wait until this store proves to be successful before I even consider anything else. We're branching out into online shopping though. We're going to try to do more events like the Clothes Show. And, also, we're wholesaling all of our products, so we're hoping to spread the name of Harriet Sanders throughout the UK to build a reputation and prove that the shop works.

Q. You could have decided to trade just online. What made you want to set up a brick and mortar business?
A. The fact that some of the accessories are quite expensive, and I always feel that it's important, if I'm buying something that is expensive, to be able to feel it. If you take a photo of something and view it on the computer, the colour is often very different – it can look completely different in reality. Photos aren't the best way to sell something. So I wanted to have a place where people could come in and feel what's available. The other issue is that a lot of bags are one-offs, so to sell them online is a bit difficult. Setting up a shop felt like the right way to go.