Retailer Face To Face: The Bean Hive

In The Pink

Where can you find a gift shop painted trendy millennial pink, with a giraffe named Deborah coming out of an exterior wall, high above a pair of Instagram-ready angel wings? The answer is at The Bean Hive in Kettering, a quirky, crazy gift shop on three levels that has been injecting colour and personality into the town for the past three years.

As winner of The Greats 2021 Best Newcomer - South & Wales, category, PG&H popped in to catch up with the shop’s equally colourful owner Davina ‘Queen Bean’ Parkhouse.

It’s been quite a year for Davina Parkhouse (who prefers to be known as Bean). Not only did The Bean Hive - founded in 2018 by a group of friends and traders - win the Best Newcomer - South & Wales category at The Greats in September, but the store also won the Best Gift Shop category at the Northamptonshire Muddy Stilettos Awards, as well as the Best Gift Shop category at the local Kettering Business Awards. And if that wasn’t enough, the shop was also shortlisted as a finalist at The Retas 2021 greeting card retailer awards (the sister Awards of The Greats) in November, all of which shouts out that the shop has got its finger on the pulse of retail.

From the moment you walk in, it’s clear that this is no ordinary gift store. (“It’s a bit crazy!” admits Bean). On the first two levels - in addition to Bean’s ‘something different’ gift, home, interiors, food, beauty and greeting card sections - the remaining space is rented out to 12 hand-picked traderscum-staff-cum friends, selling everything from crystals and wall art to bags, jewellery and vinyl, as well as (additional) greeting cards from two local illustrators, plus much, much more besides.

There’s also Sweary Mary’s on the upper floor for those shoppers looking for novelty ‘rude’ gifts and cards. “We’re very liberal with the products we sell, and in the run-up

Above: Delighted smiles from Davina (Bean) Parkhouse (right) and her daughter Emelye, owners of The Bean Hive, Kettering, and The Bean Hive By The Sea, Falmouth, winners of The Greats Best Newcomer - South & Wales category.

Left: Deborah The Zebra was specially created to celebrate the shop’s third anniversary. Inset: The Bean Hive in Kettering.

to Christmas, all items sell out,” reveals Bean. (To avoid stock shortages and disappointed customers in December, orders across the board were placed early, with all three floors crammed with goodies).

She continues: “We bought the shop three years ago, and with a lot of blood sweat and tears we have managed to turn a derelict space into a colourful vibrant mini department store. Since lockdown, everything is better because we had time to do things that normally we wouldn’t have had time to do. It’s therefore been like starting out again, but with a much improved shop, better stock, a website and fabulous new artwork which was funded by the government’s re-start grant. Our reward has been that footfall and sales have been amazing. We’re not just surviving but thriving thanks to our loyal customers of all ages.”

Bean is especially proud of one trader, Randalls American sweet shop, which specialises in American candy brands. “It’s owned by a young entrepreneur from Market Harborough who has done so well that he has become a local ‘celebrity’,” she enthuses. “The town’s children come in here to buy their sweets, making the shop a community hub.”

Locals clearly love The Bean Hive as much as Bean does, so much so that, delighted with its ambience, two local women, Ayesha and Reannah, recently got engaged there! “When Reannah asked to propose to Ayesha in our shop we couldn’t have been more excited!” Bean exclaims. “It was wonderful to be part of their special moment.”

So how did Bean, a former chartered surveyor, (“I was sensible and boring then, now I’m rather rebellious!”) get into gift retail? “I accidentally fell into it, initially selling antiques and vintage paraphernalia at fairs following a massive inheritance of stuff from my mother, a collector,” she explains. “Subsequently, I began selling a few gifts and cards too - I love greeting cards and always have - and realised that this was the retail sector I wanted to be in. I come from a family of shopkeepers and love beautiful things, as I was surrounded with them growing up. Additionally, my mum was a shopper, as was my grandma, so I’m unashamedly a shopaholic,” she admits.

“My favourite activity is sourcing new stock for the shop - and chatting to our lovely customers of course! In lockdown, if I’m being honest, I missed them, and my staff/traders, who I see every day, more than my friends! So with sourcing in mind, I’m really looking forward to the trade shows in 2022. I spend somewhere between £5,000£10,000 and love to find new suppliers.”

Prior to lockdown, Bean sourced from Europe as well as the UK, but with current stock issues, she has increasingly been looking at B2B sites such as Faire, Abound, Creo8ate and Tredo, to find new - and sustainable - brands, along with giftware from local, smaller suppliers. “Like everyone else, we have to keep on adapting, but our criteria is to choose products that we like ourselves. They’re items that I would have, and do have, in my own house.”

So, what does she see as the secret of The Bean Hive’s success? “A visit to The Bean Hive is always fun, and I love having an unusual shop that everyone talks about. I’ve variously been described as ‘the UK’s most enthusiastic retailer’, as well as ‘someone whose brain has too many tabs open at the same time!’ I can’t switch off. I’m constantly in work mode, thinking about every single detail, and one of the loveliest comments I’ve received is that the shop ‘out London’s London’.”

Going into 2022, what ambitions does she have for The Bean Hive over the next six to 12 months? “To have a print catalogue that goes out in the post,” states Bean. “I want to do it just once, and to do it professionally, with the photo shoot taking place in my house which I’ve recently remodelled. I’ve got the backdrops ready, so that’s the dream. Meanwhile, I count myself very, very lucky to have such a crazy, fun business and to have such enormous fun running it. Life is short, so why be boring? And best of all, I get to shop for a living! I feel like I was always mean to do this.”

Right: Cushions abound, with ‘Patsy’ one of The Bean Hive’s best sellers. Below: Miffy, in all shapes and sizes, can be found throughout the shop.

The Bean Hive By The Sea

In August 2020, Bean opened a second shop, The Bean Hive By The Sea in Falmouth, which is run by her daughter Emelye, who recently completed a masters in history from Exeter University. “She’s very much like me, a strong, rebellious, colourful character, whose favourite colour is pink. And like me, and my sister who has a gift shop, The Mackerel Makery in Penzance, and my mum, who owned estate agents, she’s a third generation natural shopkeeper,” beams Bean. “Sales in Falmouth were off the scale last summer, with the shop a magnet for tourists, students and locals.”

However, other than the exterior of the shop being painted millennial pink, and a section for Sweary Mary’s, (“a huge hit with students”), which is about to be significantly expanded in 2022, the retail concept is very different. “Emelye is well known in Falmouth for wearing unusual, colourful dresses which she then re-sells,” explains Bean. “People love them and come into the shop to buy them. Plus, she sells some of my old vintage stock. Emelye’s favourite colour has always been pink - which has inspired the colour theme for The Bean Hive - so much so that we own a bright pink car too!”