On Friday 15th November we began the mammoth task of getting our Christmas shop ready for opening on Saturday. This sounds like a simple enough thing to do, but believe me it takes ages! We draw up the plans usually in January so we can buy product through out the year that will fit with the theme. We then usually have a week when we log the stock and price it up ready for going out onto the shop floor. This in itself takes ages as we try to get the stock ready in sections that correspond to where its going to go on the shop floor. I have to say a big thank you to Linda,Barry and Ashlie who helped out with this task this year. The setting up of our Christmas shop has become a bit of a Christmas tradition that everyone likes to join in with, and we usually have staff members who have left return for this one night to help with the set up. This year we had Ros, Catherine, Matt, Katie, and Sheila all in to help on the night. We started at 4pm and were still there at 11.30pm when we had to call it a night. This did mean however we had to be back in for 6am to finish off, which is always a little panicky as we have to open at 9am so it really puts the pressure on! However with everyone’s hard work and dedication we managed to pull it off again, and this year’s enchanted forest theme is my favourite yet. Saturday not only saw our Christmas shop open but it coincided with the Stalybridge light switch on – which this year was amazing. To mark the occasion we worked with one of our creatives, Handmade House Arts & Crafts who sell handmade items in the shop to design a Christmas shopping bag. Its really lovely, they did a great job and you can get one for free when you send over £20 in store while stocks last. They are perfect for doing your Christmas shopping with. Do call in and have a look at our Christmas shop, the girls have worked really hard transforming the space and the decorations are great to, with sensible prices. We have stocked up on Christmas candles and have a lovely range of Christmas cards this year as well. I hope you enjoy shopping in the Christmas shop and hope to see you soon x