Cherry Cherry has been the new edition to the Norwich Craft world since April and has already made a big impression. The storeowners, Gemma Correll and Kate Seaward have talked to Maddog in the May issue, but we thought it would be a good idea to see what the girls have been up to since.

Gemma and Kate have been selling work of local and national artists, illustrators and shop owners since the beginning of their launch.

However, it seems now they are spreading their horizons as craft makers from across the UK have been getting in touch with them, interested in having their products sold in Cherry Cherry. Gemma comments: “We started to (and currently do) sell products of markers that we knew from the Art College and also The Arts Centre Clutter City (a Bi-monthly fair) and since then we have been doing really well. We are getting more established as a store and more people are coming into the shop.”

Gemma continues: “On the lanes in Norwich it has been quite quiet, so I don’t think that the recession has just hit the independent stores it has hit everyone, so I think we are doing well as a new store. We use all the social networks with Twitter and Flicker to promote the store as well as meet new people. It has been working because now makers who sell their crafts have approached us, which is great. It shows that the business is growing even in the early months of opening the store.”

Running a store is new territory for the two and it has been a great learning curve for them both. Luckily for them, their store located in The Perfect Pad has great support from the shop owner and Kate’s boss Nick Flint. Gemma explains: “I left college three years ago and have been a self employed illustrator since, when Nick asked if we wanted to rent a space in his store we jumped to the chance. It has been a steep learning curve, but if we run into any situations that we are not sure about Nick is a great help. We are very fortunate to have someone like him to support us. Cherry Cherry is going really well and the best thing is everything that we wanted to do is happening, we couldn’t ask for anything more.”

For more information about the store take a look at their website, which will direct you to the blog. Cherry Cherry is a charming store, which can also be said about the girls.

Words > Kate Southgate