14/11/11……New ‘greener’ retailing concept comes to Thame
LOCAL producers and artisans from the Thame and Chilterns area will soon be able to sell their products through an innovative, new retail outlet opening in the town.
The shop is to be called FROM and will be opening in Cornmarket, Thame, next to the Spread Eagle Hotel, on November 19. Its founders, Steve Stretton and Marcus Hardman, are aiming for: ” A contemporary store for locals to be proud of… a year-round celebration of local creative talent.
“Only the best products will be stocked, sourced within a 20-mile radius of the town,” explained Steve and Marcus who share a passion for beautiful products locally made, like digital prints of Thame, created by Thame sister artists, Kim and Sam Osborne, through to jams and chutney from Haddenham.
FROM is borne of a fusion of the marketing experience and retail expertise of its two founders. Steve, founding partner at creative agency archibald ingall stretton, has won awards across every discipline from advertising to sales promotion. Marcus is former Senior Vice President of Global business development at DKNY and has spent the past 25 years developing retail bands in new markets worldwide from Azerbaijan to Canada (and every country in between).
FROM’s staff, and the products themselves, will impart the story behind the goods, the contributors, the history and the heritage. The Cornmarket store will be the first FROM outlet. Championing a greener way to shop, and knowing that the quality of British talent extends beyond the Thame area, they hope to eventually grow into other market towns. And maybe even sell online – of course with a website designed by local talent.
Along with a carbon footprint much smaller than an average store, FROM will also express its philanthropic nature by donating a percentage of the profits to local education to find and champion new talent.
With his background knowledge, Steve says that he understands that many people are fed up with buying products created by people that they have no relationship with.
He commented: ?It is so important to support local suppliers and craftsmen, particularly in these strained economic times. And, what has been particularly rewarding is seeing the standard of talent in our area.
“Not only are we doing the right thing ethically, we?re finding that we really will have a shop full of lovely things.? Marcus added: ?Throughout life I have studiously tried to avoid becoming a fashionista, and I am failing miserably: I still get disproportionally excited by finding new brands and designers. Inevitably for me, discovering such talent in the Chilterns area by visiting local people at their farms, homes and factories was an amazing experience ? and one that I am looking forward to introducing to a wider audience through FROM.”
PHOTO: Kim and Sam Osborne
