In our series of interviews with independent childrenswear retailers on the reopening of their stores, A Small Triangle in Hackney shares its experience.

 

CWB: What was lockdown like for A Small Triangle?

A Small Triangle: We had our shop shutters open for window browsing the entire time. People were still passing by on their way to do essential shopping. We used our windows to advertise our free local delivery service and our local community responded really well to it. We were out every evening on bicycles or by foot dropping beautiful packages to friendly faces. We had only just opened when lockdown started, so it was a lovely opportunity to meet people and talk about the new store. We used our adults’ shop website and added a children’s section and made use of its established online platform to launch our children’s offering.

CWB: What were sales like during that time?

AST: We are fortunate that our local area has a very strong independent business culture. Chatsworth Road is predominantly small independents and our local community values and supports us all. Online shopping can never replace the experience of going into a store and connecting with the aesthetics and brands first hand. However, we try our hardest to offer the essence of what we represent on our website. It was great to have a chat with people in their front gardens during delivery times and meet the faces behind the orders. Now we have reopened, many of those customers have already been in to show their support.

LT: What measures did you put in place before reopening?

AST: We have a small but open shop space with a central display table so customer traffic has been very easy to organise. We have the usual hand sanitiser offering on entry and exit and virtually everything we sell we have a packaged stock version; the items in-store are display. People are incredibly respectful and ask if it’s alright to come in and then request to touch. It’s probably more difficult for large stores, but again, direct customer communication is an advantage of being a small store. In terms of PPE, we found everything we needed to reopen on Chatsworth Road.

CWB: LT: How was your first week back trading?

AST: Customers were as excited as we were to be back. We found a lot of people coming from further afield; the culture of long walks has become a lockdown exercise staple! Our local customers and friends were happy to be back shopping. The store is a very sociable place and community ties are important to us. Our initial plan was to have children’s creative workshops in-store every weekend before opening, so we can’t wait for that to start up when things are a bit safer and more relaxed. We hope all our new online customers continue to shop with us and that the culture of supporting smaller shops continues.

LT: How are you finding the practice of social distancing in-store?

AST: It feels very calm and relaxed. The shop is laid out with plenty of room and everyone is using hand gel. Children coming into the store are amazing. It seems like people are very comfortable and feel safe.

LT: Do you plan to do any buying this season?

AST: We are constantly looking for beautiful new things. We have our Liewood buying appointment coming up so we’re excited about seeing all of the beautiful new products. We’ve just had the most amazing handmade wooden puzzles delivered too. Also, a lovely collection of children’s sunglasses from Izipizi that are new in-store. The more customers we have, the more buying we can do.

LT: How have you been promoting the store?

AST: We were featured in our fabulous local online newspaper, I Love Chatsworth Road, the week we opened. We are also featuring lots of our children’s collection on our @triangle_store_hackney Instagram page and are just putting together our first e-newsletter to send out. As a new store, our cash flow isn’t able to stretch to paid PR yet, but it’s on our list for sure.

 

A Small Triangle 
5 Chatsworth Road
E5 0LH