INTERVIEW

From small beginnings

A good eye for homeware goods and an excellent retail instinct means Laura, owner of The White Country Store, is going great guns. Mary meets her

LAURA SULSH HAD worked in a building society for years but always had an interest in retail and a good eye for home interiors. She was widowed when her son was two and obviously her life very sadly changed. She needed to start working from home to be with her little boy. I started selling stuff on ebay; anything and everything and did well at it mainly selling homeware and clothes. And it meant I could be at home with my son.’ Then she spotted on a TV personality’s Instagram site a snacking station and wanted to buy one but didn’t know where from. ‘I was desperate to get my hands on one so did lots of research and eventually found a wholesaler.’

Laura’s not daft. She not only wanted one for herself but realised that many other people would want them too. Using her Instagram account she started asking people if they were interested in one as well. And they were! She ordered 2,800 and before they even arrived had 500 reserved. ‘They were literally selling like hot cakes.’

And that was the beginning of the White Country Store. Laura had got the bug. She has always loved homeware and interiors and seems to have a good eye and a very strong retail instinct which she has put to good use. After the success of the snacking station she started sourcing other products and moved from selling on ebay to her own website. And this was all done during lockdown. She soon started stocking seasonal items so Halloween and Christmas were covered with springtime pots and Easter too so that was the whole year covered. She also designs, and has made locally, table runners and napkins which are very popular. Tablescaping is a rising trend which Laura has quickly spotted.

All was going well selling online but there’s no stopping Laura. In April 2022 she started on the markets in Stamford on Fridays and Saturdays. ‘I love doing the markets and chatting to customers. It’s fast paced and sociable and has proved really popular.’ Such a buzz has been created that she opened a small unit in Stamford’s Corn Exchange and in September this grew to a much larger unit!

‘The Corn Exchange is ideal because people are attracted in by the café and then have time to have a look around. And dogs are welcome too.’