This story is sponsored by Halls of Ripon.
It has been a sparkling first year for the 20 plus independent retailers at Halls of Ripon.
At Red Buttons – one of the jewels in the department store’s crown – the celebrations continue for owners Mike and Liz Cooper as they will soon reach a golden milestone, having married in August 1972.
The couple, along with Hedley Hall, Ben Butler and Lloyd Sheard, were instrumental in the re-birth and re-invention of the unique retail destination on Fishergate, under the famous Halls name, so fondly remembered in Ripon and across the Harrogate district, for the quality of its goods and the excellence of its service.
In their own golden wedding anniversary year, Mike and Liz have launched a sale of select rings and other jewellery items, offered at discounted prices that customers can purchase to mark their own special occasions, from silver to gold, diamond and platinum.
The special anniversary sale of select jewellery items is now on at Red Buttons
Mike, who worked for more than 40 years in senior management at some of the best-known jewellers on the UK high street, said:
“Jewellery is a personal, emotional and sentimental gift that carries deep meaning and lifelong memories.
“Over the years it has been a pleasure to share in everything from marriages and the earliest wedding anniversaries, to the birth of a child, by helping people to find the appropriate piece or pieces of jewellery.”
Mike pointed out:
“For some customers, diamonds have been selected as the mile-stones that tell the story of their lives.
“The sentimental value goes on when single items or entire collections are left to loved ones and become treasured heirlooms that will be passed on to future generations.”
Creating customised Jewellery
Red Buttons takes pride in providing a personalised service and experience for customers, supported by designers and craftsman jewellers who can create customised pieces, often involving the recycling of a family’s redundant and damaged items.
Mike explains:
“A lady brought gold rings inherited from her parents, that she was unable to wear and within a matter of days we transformed them into a simple, but stylish cross that can be worn every day.
The gold heart with diamonds, created from wedding rings and an engagement ring
“For another customer, the wedding ring of her late mother and grandmother’s diamond engagement and wedding rings, were united in a single gold and diamond heart, whose sentimental value is beyond price.”
Red Buttons’ services include free jewellery cleaning and inspection, re-sizing, stone replacement, claw re-tipping and replacement. Part exchange is also available for customers with items that they wish to trade.
A community of independent retailers
Liz Cooper, said:
New arrivals boost Ripon’s high street“Our independent retailers cover all ages, from clothes for babies and children to hand-made furniture and a newly-introduced repair shop where classic sofas and chairs are re-upholstered and returned to use.
“All traders have expanded over the past year and each has something special to offer that adds to the department store experience. The coffee, homemade cakes and sandwiches at The Hive cafe within the store are highly recommended.”
Ripon’s high street is bouncing back, as the city emerges from 18 months of covid lockdowns.
Independent retailers, regional and national chains, are taking over voids in readiness for the Christmas period.
The former Edinburgh Woollen Mill and Ponden Home stores on Market Place East Kirkgate are being prepared for new occupiers.
Both long-established brands closed in October, as owners Edinburgh Woollen Mill Group went into liquidation amid trading conditions that it described as a ‘brutal environment.’
The Kirkgate premises will be home to the family-run business Clayton’s Carpets, Home and Gifts, which also has a shop in Pateley Bridge High Street.
Mountain Warehouse is relocating to a unit previously occupied by The Edinburgh Woollen Mill.
Outdoor clothing and equipment retailer Mountain Warehouse, which currently has a small shop in Fishergate, is making the short move across Market Square.
Its relocation to larger premises is due to be completed within the next four weeks.
An autumn opening has been scheduled by Loungers Limited – the national café-bar chain – for its Claro Lounge on Market Place South.
Located next door to Ripon Town Hall, the building, which was formerly a Natwest bank branch, has been vacant since 2018.
The Claro Lounge is due to open this autumn
An autumn opening is also planned in The Arcade by Yorkshire Cancer Research in the 4,000 sq ft unit formerly occupied by a Fultons Foods store, which closed in February.
Along with new entrant The Real Junk Food Project, which redistributes surplus food, The Arcade will be home to four of Ripon’s 12 charity outlets.
Halls of Ripon which opened last month
The mall underwent a £100,000 refurbishment after Bradford-based property development and investment company Frank Marshall Estates acquired it in 2019 from the Westcourt Group.
The imminent arrival of new names in the city centre, follows the opening in July of Halls of Ripon in Fishergate – where more than 20 retailers and The Hive coffee shop are located.
Read more:
Ripon’s only department store closes it doors
Ripon’s only department store has closed its doors after the second COVID-19 lockdown wiped out a crucial month of trading.
Owner Mark Butler, who set up the ‘House of Independent Retailers’ seven years ago, told the Stray Ferret:
“I’m very sorry to say that losing the month of November, was the killer for us.
“Our monthly overheads are £7,000 and we haven’t been able to make a penny at a time of year when people start buying their Christmas gifts
“We had hoped that Christmas would be our saviour, but that was not to be and we had to take the painful decision to close.”
Wrens department store, which is now closed
The Fishergate store, which provided sales space for 52 independent retailers, ranging from those selling a single product to a section dedicated to womenswear, was located in the building previously occupied by the Philip Hall department store.
Its award-winning concept, which earned a national prize for innovative retailing, gave start-up and other small retailers low risk means of entry to the market, with affordable rents and low overheads.
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Mr Butler, who has received hundreds of messages of goodwill since news of the closure was shared on social media, said:
“We are leaving with our heads held high and proud to have played a part in helping more than a dozen fledgling businesses to get off the ground and set up in their own shops.”
He pointed out:
“We are parting on good terms with all of our retailers, who are now in the process of collecting their stock and we have maintained a good relationship with our landlord.”
After the first three-month lockdown was lifted in June, Mr Butler said that survival of the business would be reliant on staycationers coming to campsites and holiday lets in the Ripon area.
He hoped that people who had not been able to go on overseas holidays, would have money to spend in the shops, but the footfall did not materialise and this, combined with the loss of day-trip customers arriving by coach, dealt another blow.
As he prepares to lock the premises for good, he had a message, saying:
“I sincerely wish all independent retailers a successful Christmas, with people shopping locally to help them make it through this very difficult time.”