Laura Turner meets Marilyn Grose, founder and owner of Encore in Saltash, Cornwall, to discover how her passion for theatre led to a one-stop-shop for costumes, events and uniforms.
Laura Turner: What’s your career background?
Marilyn Grose: My working life started when I was just 16, in August 1970. I loved languages and writing, and my dream was to be a bilingual secretary, although I went on to work in a pharmacy – a job I loved – after doing a Dispensing Apprenticeship at Boots. After getting married, my husband and I bought a boutique in the town, which was a steep learning curve at the age of 24. Two years later, I was expecting our first baby, so we sold the business and went on to have two more children. I was a stay-at-home mum until 1999, and during those years I volunteered for almost every school activity, including setting up a school uniform shop in my children’s primary school. I worked for the supplier for a while, too – little did I know then what an asset that would become. Having ‘trod the boards’ in many school productions as a child alongside dance classes and being an active member of Saltash Operatic Society, I founded a youth theatre group in the town in 1990 called Youngstagers. It became hugely successful, and we did 30 years until Covid hit us, although we hope to finally restart this year.
LT: How did you get into retailing?
MG: In 1998 my husband saw 250 costumes advertised for sale, so we bought them and ran a successful costume hire business from home for a year. Then, a year later, three opportunities arose: my husband was threatened with redundancy, a local costume shop was closing, and the Millennium was coming up for New Year. We took his redundancy money and set up full-time premises for the costumes on an industrial estate in the town.
LT: What led the business into schoolwear?
MG: Someone was retiring and giving up their business in Saltash, which included school uniforms. He said, ‘It’s up for grabs, do you want it?’ It ticked all the boxes for me. It was something to fill the gap in the summer, it sat perfectly alongside the kids’ costumes I do for schools, and I had experience selling schoolwear all those years ago, so I took it on. This was October 2016, and I was going into party and pantomime season, so I parked the uniforms and waited until the New Year. However, the local secondary school then changed its uniform from polos and sweats to blazers, and I ended up with dead stock. I spent £100 on samples, went to the new intake meeting and, fortunately, had sourced eco-friendly uniforms with blazers made of 100% recycled plastic bottles. It was to become an amazing move. I built a Shopify website for the uniforms in the summer and enjoyed it so much I built another for the costumes.
LT: Why did you combine the two businesses?
MG: Everything we offered bounced business off each other and needed to be under one brand. We now had a costume peak in the winter with parties and pantos, and a school uniform peak in the summer. It made sense to combine the two sides of the business under one brand – Encore. There are four arms to the business now: Encore The Show Business – costumes, accessories and makeup; Encore The Kids Club – costumes for children and schools; Encore The Uniform Store – uniforms for schools, Guides and organisations; and Encore The Music Room – accessories and sound/tech support.
LT: How did The Music Room come to be?
MG: Several years before I introduced school uniform, I was doing a lot of work with a very dear friend, Steve Whiteway. Steve and I first met as children as members of the Saltash Operatic Society. We lost track for many years but met up again by chance several years ago. Steve had continued with his music, playing piano and keyboard on his own and as a member of a band with another friend, Neil, who was the Musical Director for Youngstagers. Most of his playing was for pleasure or fundraising – he raised around £750,000 in his lifetime. Steve was also award-winning when it came to environmental work and loved the concept of eco uniforms. By September 2019, I had been in touch with a company that was successful on Dragon’s Den doing eco-friendly graduation gowns. By January 2020, Steve and I had met with them and become SW Ambassadors. We realised that all the work we were doing together lent itself even more to the combined brand. Steve’s dream was to have a music shop as he had managed one years ago, so we decided to add a music department within Encore, hence The Music Room. Tragically, in March 2020, Steve was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and passed away just seven months later. He continued to plan, chat and laugh throughout his illness and treatment, so the sales side of The Music Room continues the way he planned, albeit a lot smaller than it would have been had he still been around.
LT: What are your plans for Encore?
MG: Our main priority is to fully get back our costume business that was lost during Covid. We also invested in an embroidery machine in June, and it is already proving a game changer. We can meet minimum orders on garments and embroidery easier and turn uniform orders around a lot quicker. Now the school rush is over, we are going to promote our new ‘department’ store and everything we can now offer. Future plans? I am 70 in December, but I still love the buzz, the challenges, keeping my customers happy and seeing them come back again. Retirement? One day, I guess.
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