Harrogate Home & Gift beckons for Lovely Libby’s in Rayleigh, with owner Libby Holden – a columnist for Progressive Gifts & Home – looking forward to seeing both new and existing suppliers and discovering lots of new best sellers.
“With our favourite trade show, Harrogate Home & Gift, well and truly on the horizon it’s safe to say we are buzzing! It’s probably our biggest trade show of the year as it covers such a wide base for us – from forward ordering key gifting ranges for autumn/winter, to ordering last minute summer clothing for our boutique. While it’s definitely a little strenuous on the feet (even more so for me this year being 7.5 months pregnant!), it is a yearly highlight for our buying team. Not only is Harrogate a beautiful place in itself, the show is so hospitable and welcoming. Nothing quite beats sitting on the lawn with the sun on your face after a long day of buying, with a Harrogate gin in hand – even if my glass will have to be alcohol free this year!
Harrogate Home & Gift is definitely the place to go to see all things new, and that is certainly what fills us with the most excitement about attending. We get to see all the new collections for the coming seasons from our long-standing suppliers, as well as being exposed to brand new smaller companies you don’t necessarily see at smaller shows. The supplier at the top of our list is definitely Alice Wheeler. We’ve had a little bit of secret intel from our rep about how gorgeous their autumn/winter collection is, and I’ve pretty much not stopped thinking about it since!
We’ve stocked Alice Wheeler for about five years now, first seeing them at Harrogate Home & Gift in 2019 when they had the tiniest stand tucked away in the corner. Since then, they have gone from strength to strength and become such a renowned name in shops all round the country – Lovely Libby’s included! Everything we’ve stocked of theirs has been a hit, and I just know that whatever is included in this new collection is bound to become one of our best-selling gift ranges this Christmas.
Another must-visit stand for us is the Irish brand, Inis. Not only do we need to do a big top up order for both shops, I’m really intrigued to see if they’ll have anything new for us to sink our teeth into. We actually inherited Inis from the previous owners of the shop, and it has been a constant for us ever since. People come from all over the surrounding areas to buy it. It’s definitely something you can get hooked on. It literally does what it says on the bottle – ‘transports you to the sea’! The range has constantly improved and expanded over the years, so anything new would go down a treat for our Christmas gifting range.
And finally, you’ve always got to be one step ahead in retail. So we will be looking to place orders for our autumn/winter collection in the boutique. We only manage to see Tempest Designs at Harrogate, and their pieces were such a huge part of our winter clothing range last year. They always have amazing quality pieces at great prices, which is becoming more important than ever right now, so I’m hoping they’ve got some goodies for us. Flick Fashion is also an all year round stockist for us and are our go-to for wardrobe staples. Even though they’re based just around the corner to us, we love visiting their stand to see how they’ve curated their collection as it gives us inspiration as to how we can style and integrate their pieces in our own boutique. We’re counting off the days now!”
Read the full article in the July issue of Progressive Gifts & Home on page 33 click here.
Above: Lovely Libby’s owner Libby Holden (right) with buyer/manager Georgia Burness at last year’s show.
