Retailer Face To Face: Williams of Audlem

Keeping It In The Family

When Eli Williams opened the doors of his fabrics and haberdashery store, Williams of Audlem, in 1862, Queen Victoria was over halfway through her reign and Lord Palmerston was the country’s Prime Minister.

Fast forward 160 years, and Eli’s great, great granddaughter Judy Williams is proud to be at the helm of this Greats-award winning retro-refitted store, which today has gifts at its heart, but still sells newspapers and magazines, as well as basic hardware, referencing its past.

Judy looks backwards and forwards at the family business as the shop gets ready to celebrate its 160th anniversary in 2022.

Pushing open the door of Williams of Audlem, based in the heart of the rural village of Audlem in South Cheshire, is like stepping back in time. You can see and touch its history, with many of the period fixtures and fittings still in place. They include the shop’s till, purchased second hand in the1890s by the founder’s son, George Williams, which featured on BBC 1’s The Repair Shop, (series 2, episode 11), as well as several items acquired from online second hand market sites.

Evolving from a drapers and haberdashery store to sell gifts, home and interior accessories, greeting cards and stationery, the store dates back to at least 1840. “It was purchased by my great, great grandfather in 1863, who employed seamstresses in the back of the shop to make up garments for his more affluent customers,” explains Eli’s great, great granddaughter Judy Evans, the fifth generation of the family to own the business. The Williams’ also acquired several printing presses, printing stationery for village events and for the local church and chapels’ services and celebrations.

Eli’s eldest son, George Williams, took over the running of the business in the 1890s, and although his sons didn’t follow him into the family business, the shop passed to George’s daughter, the entrepreneurial Hilda Dutton, Judy’s grandmother. “By all accounts she was an unusual character for her time,” explains Judy. “As a young woman in the 1920’s, she drove a car and rode a motorbike! She also introduced a shop delivery service, driving to rural farms where she delivered goods on a weekly basis - showing that home delivery as a concept isn’t anything new.” Nor was late night opening. The shop would be open until 8pm during the week to accommodate the locals finishing their work in the agricultural industry. Hilda it turns out, was also a formidable business woman, putting all her money into stock for the shop at the outbreak of WW2, claiming that the business would either ‘sink or swim’. “Fortunately, it swam and

Above: Judy Williams is shown receiving the Independent Gift Retailer of the Year -North & Northern Ireland trophy at The Greats Awards in 2019. Presenting the award is David Cree, (right), sales manager of Joe Davies, category sponsor. Above right: The Williams family in the late 1890s. Eli Williams is shown middle row (seated, arms folded). Right: Williams of Audlem as it is today.

she retired a relatively wealthy woman!” smiles Judy.

After the war, the printing presses were sold and the business became more reliant on off-the-peg clothing, haberdashery, bedding and a growing newspaper trade. Home products were introduced in the early 1900s, based on Audlem’s close proximity to Stoke-on-Trent’s pottery industry. Comments Judy: “This not only included everyday plates and crockery, but also what I can remember my grandmother referring to as ‘fancy goods’.”

Around this time, the greeting card side of the business expanded too. “As a small child, I can remember my grandmother keeping her stock of greeting cards behind the counter in boxes, so customers would have to specifically ask to see them in order to make a purchase. How times have change in today’s world of card racks and spinners!” she muses.

Hilda’s reign continued until the late 1960s - a time when The Beatles were at the height of their fame and Mary Quant and Twiggy dominated the fashion headlines - with the business passing to Judy’s parents, Megan and Derek McKelvey. “My mother, Hilda’s youngest daughter, was a slightly less enthusiastic owner, but fortunately my father, a cost accountant from Salford, took to shop and village life like a duck to the River Irwell! My parents sold solid mid quality branded clothing, and I can remember the first pairs of Levi jeans arriving in the late 70’s which caused quite a stir!” recalls Judy.

Her parents ran the shop from the late ‘60s until the Noughties, becoming agents for Tri-ang, Meccano and Britains toys along the way. But when Judy, a senior textile production and quality control manager for Laura Ashley Manufacturing came back to the village from mid-Wales to raise her family, she could see that the product mix needed to change. “The first thing to go was most of the fashion wear as many established quality brands had disappeared, and supermarkets were selling clothing cheaper than my parents could buy it. However, to this day, some elements remain, such as gift-led gloves, socks and scarves.” Having co-run the business with her parents for several years, Judy took over the shop in 2013. By this time, other elements of the business needed to be addressed, such as the steady decline in newspaper sales, with the expansion of gifts and stationery seen as the way forward. Another key decision was whether to modernise - or not - the shop’s interior. Her parents had carried out a refit in the 1970s, leaving Judy torn between completely modernising again, or rescuing the old counters and fitments from the garage (being war babies her parent never threw anything away) and go retro. “Having a lifelong appreciation of antiques and curios, there was really only one choice, with my decision not to modernise ensuring that the shop continues to retain its historic character,” Judy reasons. In fact, she highlights that it’s her decision that offers today’s customers a unique shopping experience - a traditional ‘step back in time’ retro refitted shop with a genuine heritage. “It’s a retail business strongly rooted in customer and community service, while also being ethically aware and fair principled, whether this applies to staff, suppliers or customers,” states Judy. As she puts it, “our shop has been at the heart of our community for over one and a half centuries - both inside and outside of the building. Outside of the shop, my family and I have a rich history of serving on community committees and services, as well as various local councils and also being actively involved in village events and fund raising. Inside the shop, we have always been a store that enjoys going the extra mile-and-a-half for both customers and non-customers, whether that has involved delivering shopping to the housebound, lending jump leads to broken down motorists, being called on at 2am to give a stranded elderly customer a lift home from hospital, or serving a desperate customer on Christmas Day - and believe me, there’s rarely a Christmas that we don’t!”

As the current owner, Judy’s long-term plans include developing and extending the gift and greeting card ranges, while keeping a small part of the store as mixed purpose to ensure that customers ‘shop local’. “The strategy also means that we can take advantage of linking products to our giftware - for example carrying bird food, our best seller during lockdown, which links in with our bird-themed giftware and cards.” With a 160th anniversary to celebrate and commemorate, Judy has commissioned bespoke items to include bags and mugs. “We are also looking at fundraising for local causes on the theme of ‘160’ so that we can give something back to a community that has supported us all these years. And, of course, we are also putting together our strategic plan for our next 160 years in business!” she laughs. Eli Williams would be very proud indeed.

Left: The store in the 1930s. Below left: The retro interior of Williams of Audlem showing part of the gift sector. Below right: The till, bought in the 1890s, that featured on BBC 1’s The Repair Shop.