Wigan sisters have a crafty idea

Louise (far left) and Caroline (centre right) with customers in Crafters Corner

Caroline Anderton and Louise Bridges from Bryn have opened a new fabric and haberdashery shop in the unit previously occupied by the old Spencer’s bakery on Wigan Road.

Habbyrags opened earlier this month and stemmed from the siblings’ long awaited desire to go into business together.

Co-owner Louise said: “I’m 60 this year and my sister’s 58 so we’re not young entrepreneurs but we have both been keen to start our own business.

“When this shop came up for rent, we thought it was ideal and had it refurbed but we didn’t 100 per cent know what we wanted to open the shop as.

“We had a think about what was missing from the area and put some ideas together with our family to see what would be unique to the community and this is where the idea for fabric and haberdashery came from because the closest shop of that nature is in Culcheth.”

Louise has always had an interest in arts and crafts and has her own pressed flower business and with Caroline having a passion for sewing, it seemed right to open a shop relating to their hobbies.

Before embarking on this opportunity, the pair had taken different career paths.

Caroline is a legal secretary and still plans to maintain her career and work in the shop part-time, whereas Louise has had various roles, more recently as a childminder.

They decided to get the ball rolling for their enterprise after losing their mum suddenly last year: “Losing our mum was the catalyst for us to do this. Our parents were entrepreneurial and set up a few businesses. This gave us the drive to do it ourselves.

“Because of our busy schedules in the past, it was virtually impossible but with the lockdowns we had more time to think things through.”

The shop is offering home delivery for anyone who can’t get to them as well as containing a unique feature known as Crafters Corner, where local residents can sell their own creations.

“We want to encourage local crafters to use this space to display and sell their work.

“The idea came about because with my pressed flowers I found that word of mouth really helped but there wasn’t really an outlet for sales.

“There’s so many different talents out there that we want to showcase and I just think it would be a really lovely idea to give them a stepping stone.”

Crafters can hire the shelves for a small weekly fee and will receive 100 per cent of any profits made.