FASHION enthusiast, farmers wife and mum-of-three, Georgina Innes (37), has strengthened her career in recent years, having become an independent retail owner of not one, but two well-known boutiques in one of Scotland’s best loved seaside towns, Nairn.
Originally a farmer’s daughter from outside Stirling, Georgina has had a love for fashion since a young age and after completing a degree in fashion and textile design management at Heriot-Watt University, Galashiels, she began travelling around some of the leading horse and agricultural events across the country, with an exhibition unit, selling an array of ladies clothing.
With stock sourced from as far away as Belgium, that wee trailer full of designer clothing proved such a great hit amongst the ladies, that it gave Georgina her first step onto the business ladder and a way of finding new customers, many of whom still buy from her today.
Soon after, at Burgie Horse Trials, Georgina met her husband, and local farmer, Andrew Innes, and moved north to live with him in Nairn, where she continued selling items from the exhibition unit, with the hope of finding a more permanent base.
In 2002, Georgina purchased an empty unit on Leopold Street, Nairn, just off of the town’s high street, where she completed the renovation of her first retail shop, Brambles.
Catering for many needs in ladies’ fashion, Brambles stocks occasion wear, as well as everyday wear, and many other types of clothing, while you can also now find shoes, bags, jewellery, hats and fascinators – and it’s all under one roof.
Although Georgina is the first to admit that it wasn’t easy setting up a new business in a small town and that it took around five years to build up a strong customer base, she was lucky enough to have the support of those that she knew – the wives within the farming community and the local ladies of Nairn.
“I love the buzz from what I do,” she explained. “It’s such a sociable job and I enjoy meeting old, and new acquaintances.”
Almost 15 years on and employing six part-time staff, having had additional help from her mother-in-law, Libby, in the early days, Brambles has become so well-know that it has created interest as far south as Kent, with repeat customers coming into the shop during stays at their second-homes in Nairn, and others willing to travel the two-hour journey from Aberdeen.
This is also coupled up with the great support from locals in the town and the tourists who stay during the summer months.
“We’ve been lucky because we offer clothes and accessories that cannot often be found on the High Street and some of the top clothing ranges stocked in Brambles include Masai, Great Plains, Latte and Peruzzi,” she commented.
All of those ranges are handpicked and chosen for their compatibility with each other, allowing many of the collections to be mix and matched to create a unique offering. The shop also receives several phone calls from customers looking to buy stock, due to its offering of such well-known brands.
“Everything that is stocked in the shop is tried on by myself to ensure I know exactly what I am selling to the public,” Georgina added, and she regularly makes trips to Glasgow and London to buy products.
“In the early days, I used to purchase stock twice a year, whereas now I have new stock coming in all the time. It’s important to give the boutique an overhaul of stock every now and then, as it keeps things fresh and it makes it more exciting for the customer.”
Georgina was also constantly looking at ways she could expand and grow Brambles, and continued: “Nairn always lacked on the shoe shop front and then it came to a point where we didn’t have a single shoe shop left here, so there was definitely a need for them, and therefore shoes have ended up selling very well in Brambles.”
But Georgina didn’t stop expanding her business there, as, just over two years ago, another opportunity popped up for her, when a second empty unit came up for grabs in the town, this time on the High Street – a perfect location.
There, she opened Ink and Pink, another boutique which Georgina describes as ‘ageless’, stocking clothing and accessories that suit all generations.
With fresh styles from French Connection, Louche London, Sugarhill Boutique, Marble, Closet London and Fransa, this shop mainly focuses on contemporary clothing, but can also accommodate those looking for a wedding outfit, too.
She added: “The response towards Ink and Pink was instant.
“Having already built up a good relationship with so many people, the customers knew exactly what kind of clothing they could expect to find at our new set-up.”
In order to grow and expand both businesses, Georgina launched two websites for each shop last March, which has created another avenue for her to market her products, and create more sales. This has also enabled her to increase the number of locations she can retail in, with orders coming in from all over the UK, and, although this is a great way to increase sales, it has made things even busier for her and the staff.
“Launching the two online shops has been fantastic for the businesses, but it has certainly increased the work load as we pack and post all of the items out of the shops, but at the end of the day, it’s totally worth it,” she said.
Alongside the day-to-day running of both shops, Brambles and Ink and Pink have also been part of various local charitable fashion shows and have so far managed to raise in excess of £30,000, over the years.
Asked how she further markets the boutiques, she, like many others, applauded the power of social media, particularly Facebook, and commented: “I always say that Facebook is like my shop window, because people can get a good look at what we have in stock, but they can do that from anywhere, and it’s a fantastic way of promoting what we have.”
Of course, for someone like Georgina, running two shops and a website is simply not enough work, and she and her family have now set up a three-bedroom holiday cottage, affectionately named The Antlers, available to rent year-round, four miles out of Nairn on the family’s farm.
On whether she has plans to expand her businesses further, or set-up any more businesses, Georgina simply commented: “Not at the moment, but I am always looking for new things to do!”
Both online shops can be viewed at bramblesnairn.com and inkandpink.co.uk, and you can take a look at The Antlers on this website: cottages.com, or visit its Facebook page: The Antlers.