Owner of Iris and Violet in St Mary’s Street, Stamford to open new store in Cambridge
A business owner has had the busiest year of her life as she juggled preparing to open a second shop, a newborn baby and life in the pandemic.
Bethany Scott-Morris launched Iris and Violet in St Mary’s Street, Stamford two years ago and following its success, is opening a second store in Cambridge next month.
Bethany, 30, said: “I always liked the idea of potentially having more than one shop.
“Cambridge is a great market and has tourists, and like Stamford, the local people support businesses.
“With opening a second shop it’s a good market to enter. During the last year the high street has lost a lot of well-known shops. Topshop has been lost and the John Lewis in Peterborough so in terms of womenswear, people have lost so many places.
“I think it’s a really good time to be an independent as people are looking for more of a unique shopping experience.”
Not only has Bethany had to juggle the opening of a shop in a new location, she has also given birth to her first-born, Edie, and adapted to life in the pandemic.
The new mum said: “It has been the busiest year of my life. So many other mums have a year of maternity leave and things slow down but for me it’s gone the other way. At the same time it’s my passion and I absolutely love the shop and what I do so it doesn’t feel like I’m going to work.”
Being in and out of lockdowns, Bethany was pushed to launch a website, something she had planned to do much later on.
However, she believes this decision has helped her business immensely.
She said: “All of the local customers have been doing click-and-collect and posting out, which has really kept the business moving especially as the retail is seasonal.
“I couldn’t have closed when we did in December and reopen in May with all the same stock.”
The new Cambridge shop is located in St Mary’s Passage just off the Market Place and is set to open in the second or third week of June.
Bethany plans to split her time between both stores and encourages Stamford customers to visit the Cambridge shop too as stock may be different.
