The impact on every member of society and every business has been unparalleled. Life has changed in ways that no one could have thought possible. As a family we were at home with three young children: Henry, Lucy, & Alice. Home schooling was challenging, we were baking in abundance, and movie time, & creating family shows became the norm! We discovered skills we never knew our children had, unear
thing their fun, quirky ways, and their kindness and compassion for others. Simultaneously, as parents we were looking at how we protect our family from the current situation and ensure that there was hope and reassurance that times will get better. For our family it brought about a level of closeness that we couldn’t have imagined, we were able to realign our lives and rediscover that the little things in life made us happy. Being able to create memories together and show the children that having resilience through tough times is a great skill to have. Whilst protecting our family was priority, we are also business owners and the situation uncovered so many feelings: What does the future hold? How do we keep the business alive and support not only our family, but the amazing store teams who have consistently supported our business over the years? There were the Trojans of essential retail who remained open during the pandemic, to those stores and their teams we celebrate their brilliance and resilience in the highest glory. It gave us hope and we began to think long and hard, having many sleepless nights, and conversations with family, friends, and colleagues within the retail industry. Once we were able to reopen it became clear that our stores are at the heart of many local communities, the store teams were excited to be back in their shops, we have loyal customers who were thrilled to see our stores reopening and the friendly faces of our trusted store colleagues. What quickly became prevalent is that the words of a card or small gift gave our customers a tangible way to communicate with their family and friends. In a time where we couldn’t physically be there to hug or care for our nearest and dearest, there was a strengthened desire to show love and support to others. As well as a warm, fuzzy feeling, this gave us hope that there is a role for our stores and confidence that what we do is important. We have stores that have been with us for over 20 years, they are in our hearts and DNA. We didn’t want all the hard work and commitment from every team member and customer to be lost through this surreal situation. We concluded this is a time for change, to adapt our brand and stores to be part of the future of retail. Teaming the enthusiasm and compassion of our children, with a desire to rebuild our business seemed logical. Henry had already shown his creative flare with a passion for cooking, and entrepreneurial skills over the summer; opening an outdoor pop up store (on our driveway) so that his friends could safely buy Father’s Day cards and gifts. The girls: Lucy & Alice, had talked at length about daddy’s shops and set up their own store selling pictures to family members for 5p each. And so… just like that Henry & Co was born. Our new venture, a concept store to nurture as a whole family and create a brand and shopping experience that delivers now and for years to come. At the forefront of our thinking is the essence of Inspiring Togetherness. We want to give a platform that brings people together through thoughtful gifts, and emotive cards! Everything we do encourages the customer to comfortably show their emotion through the product of their choice. If the pandemic has taught is anything, it is the value of being together, nothing can replace the joy and warmth of a hug, but we also know that gifts and cards are a wonderful way to show we care.
