"We want everyone to succeed" - Shop Indie on Chesterfield's diverse, independent shop community

These are the words of John O’nion’s to anyone starting their own independent shop, and they shouldn’t be taken lightly.

John and his partner Lisa Swift run the Shop Indie gift store on Steeplegate in Chesterfield, and their start was bumpy to say the least: opening their shop just six months before lockdown.

“We had a six month lease as a pop-up shop, and we renewed it the week before we got locked down,” Lisa said. “Having to shut was very difficult. We did a few click and collect orders, but the majority of it we were shut.

“We were lucky that we qualified for some support which helped pay the bills, keep the staff on, which was great,” John said. “But obviously the flip side is you’re not developing the business as much because you didn’t have people walking past and discovering you.”

So how did the shop survive? “I think we’ve always benefitted from being cautiously ambitious,” says John, laughing. “We’ve sort of grown within our means. Having that first six months, then we had two lots of twelve months. Again, still temporary leases, so we knew if anything disastrous were to happen we’d got that option at the end of it. But this time round we’ve signed up for three years. That was a bit of a moment. Going from something that was temporary to something that is semi-permanent, that was a big step.”

This big step began with little steps. Lisa, 36, and John, 35, met at school. “I’ve been making stuff my entire life, always been crafting,” said Lisa. “John encouraged me to start selling stuff, and I started in 2009 at Bakewell craft fair. Wooden letters that we’d paint, greeting cards…”

And what’s John’s artistic leaning? “I haven’t really got one.” Both John and Lisa laugh, the humour in their relationship apparent. “I’m more practical and admin,” says John, “Yeah, Lisa is the creative one.”

As a pair of opposites, does this work for you? “Hopefully,” says Lisa. “We’re still together, so yeah, it’s not the reason for different surnames,” says John, to more laughter.

“Yeah, I think it helps because we’re pretty different people. We’ve got complimentary roles. We’re not butting heads over what stock to get in, or where stuff’s going in the shop. If we need an advert designing we ask the artist,” says John, pointing to Lisa, “And if you want something sorting on the website, you ask me.”

So, as a couple who work together, and live together, who is the most annoying? Lisa and John look at each other with a grin, and Lisa answers for both. “We’re definitely going to say each other.”

This humour seems part of the shop. Looking around it is definitely echoed in many of the items. Mugs that tell you everything will ‘be reyt’. Coasters that tell you the person who bought you it thinks you’re a ‘bobby dazzler’. A birthday card from your wife that tells you ‘she’s still hot for you but now it comes in flushes’.

Other stock includes necklaces, earrings, keyrings, bath salts, soap, candles, toys, games, notebooks, socks, chocolates and wall art, which includes some of Lisa’s pieces.

These see bold and quirky depictions of Chesterfield and Derbyshire focal points, again a bridge between who Lisa and John are, to what they stock.

Would they see the shop as part of their personality? “Definitely,” says Lisa. “We choose all the products. They’re definitely our taste. Things that we like… Over the last three years we’ve had stock from over a 150 makers from across the UK. We’ve probably got over a 100 in the shop at any given time.

“Definitely things like the Maria Brannen ‘Me & Thee’ stuff represents what we’re about, because it was a small independent business, that would have done very well at markets and things like that. But, perhaps didn’t have the audience, the visibility, and it’s one of our best-sellers now,” says John.

‘Mardy bum, bugger lugs, chuffin’ ‘ell!’ – this Chesterfield indie maker uses cheeky Derbyshire slang on her pieces, and seems a perfect example of what this shop does.

“We were her first stockists. She’s being stocked in lots of different places now,” says Lisa. “Hopefully, we helped her in some way,” adds John. “Whether it was a bit more confidence in putting stuff out there. It’s what we set out to do early on, the smaller makers, help them grow. A lot of them that we’ve stocked haven’t been stocked in shops before. We know everyone has to start somewhere.”

“It’s nice to try stuff. We can put in small orders with our makers, just get a few items in and see how they go with our customers. Many of our makers we started off with a few bits, and then we’re still ordering a year, two years, three years later,” says John. Lisa nods, adding “And people come back and they find something new in the shop every time and that’s something we like to do, changing up the range, just to make sure we’ve got something different.”

‘Different’ is certainly a good word to describe what’s inside this shop. It feels far from a high street chain gift shop. Lisa underlines why this is the case. “We’re not reliant on someone else choosing the product for us, so we can go and try a little maker who’s making little earrings on their kitchen table.”

And, these little maker’s clearly have distinct skills, making items of quality that are both “interesting and unique”, as John puts it. “All we can do is shout about our makers, try and support small businesses. What do you want to see in the future? Do you want to see the cheap chain stores or do you want to see the diversity we’ve got in Chesterfield at the moment?”

The diversity of the Chesterfield indie shop scene is certainly on the up. Is it competitive? Lisa says not, giving an example of why it’s the opposite. “There’s a couple of jewellers in the group, and we sell jewellery, but they’re all completely different types of product.”

John elaborates on this. “There’s always been a community between the independents. For example, there’s another gift shop across the way, Huckleberry Willow, and they’ve sent people to us, and we’ve sent people to them. We all want the customers to have a good experience, and find what they’re looking for, and if we’ve not got it we’d rather them go to another independent in Chesterfield and find it there.

“You want everyone to succeed because it’s in our interests for Chesterfield to thrive. Empty shops, fine, you don’t have competition, but that’s not attracting new visitors into town either. We’re better off with all the shops being full with a wide variety of things, getting people in.”

John opens a box and pulls a cardboard star out of it. A hundred of these have been donated by a Chesterfield company called Paper Starlights. The stars will be hanging in indie businesses from November 20th, as part of a campaign, “So people know they’re an independent”.

“Customers get a lovely product, something they’d treasure. They support shops like us, and we support the makers that produce the items.”

A young lady approaches the counter with a handful of cards. You can tell she’s been here before. “I buy a lot of cards from here…”

Her and Lisa laugh as she serves her. “I always have a look around when I come in. I’ve bought Christmas presents and things like that from here. And a lot of the sellers I find in here I’ve found on Instagram or Etsy.”

The customer leaves smiling. “It’s lovely to help people find something that’s a bit different,” says Lisa. John nods. “You wouldn’t believe the number of times we get children come in with their dads and the kids say ‘Mum likes this!’ …especially at Christmas.” Lisa laughs, and says “Yeah, mum’s bringing their kids in… ‘Tell Daddy I like this, this… and this…’ and then they come back in with Daddy.”

“Yeah, we love those,” laughs John.