Attire Accessories -Jul/Aug 2018 (Issue 71)

ATTIRE 113 RETAILER INTERVIEW Can you tell me a bit aboutThe Hambledon’s background? I don’t have any kind of background in jewellery specifically. But it has always been something we have sold at The Hambledon. However, we’re not exclusively jewellery – we sell across all sorts of product categories. I don’t really like calling us a concept or lifestyle store. We’re really a mini independent department store just selling things we genuinely love. We set up the shop in 1999. I had a mail- order business, and we knew that we had customers in and around Winchester, which was the sum total of my market research! I had a contact in the city who knew a good commercial agent that found the site for us. Once we’d seen the building, there was absolutely nowhere else we wanted to be. It’s a beautiful four-storey Georgian building just off the High Street that overlooks the cathedral. I had worked with my mum in her shop, The Hambledon Gallery in Dorset, and The Hambledon is inspired by and an homage to her. What challenges were overcome when the company was starting out? The challenges were mainly financial! When we first opened, customers thought we were closing down. We hadn’t quite