In the last few days of Christmas trade, there is some good advice from Excellence in Housewares Awards’ Retail Employee Finalist Fatima Ait-Hammou, manager at Richard Dare, North London. The shop (along with sibling store, Prep in Stoke Newington) is the Bira Cookshop & Housewares Retailer of the Year. Fatima also reveals her priority for 2020.
What is your best advice for coping with the busy festive sales period?
“I would say the main advice to cope without stress in this busy time is to first have a store perfectly visually merchandised and an organised stockroom so members of staff can easily find a product and then can serve quickly customers that know what they want. Having a few little breaks during the shifts help us to be more relaxed. And we drink a lot of tea!
We always have some key products for the people that don’t know what to buy (such as candles and a selection of tea) and we also offer to wrap the Christmas present and the customers really love it.”
What’s going to be important for your business in 2020?
“Next year we will introduce some new exciting products that we found with Holly [owner of Richard Dare and Prep] at Maison&Objet in September. Most of our customers live in the area so it is important to always have new lines in. And hopefully a website.”
Top: Fatima Ait-Hammou with Richard Dare’s owner Holly Wilson, pictured at the Excellence in Housewares Awards.
