Hucknall small business owners taking the next step forward by opening their first shop

K&S Balloons & Confectionary already has offices in Bestwood Village as well as operating from the owners’ home in Hucknall.

But now, the business is taking its next step by opening the shop.

However, the new shop won’t be in Hucknall as the costs made it unfeasible, so instead, they are opening up on Kingsway in Kirkby-in-Ashfield.

Kirsty Stephenson, one of the company’s owners, said: “We had the office in Bestwood Village which we have rapidly outgrown.

"We do get people coming in to see us but we wanted to create the feel that people could just nip in and see us and if they wanted something they could get it.

“And at the moment, we can’t do that because they’re private offices, so we’re trying to kill two birds with one stone and be available online for everyone who knows us and then also be available for any footfall that we can get as well.

“The plan was to go in Hucknall and to be honest, we looked at several in Hucknall, but there were many factors such as the cost, the length of lease they wanted from us and in this climate especially, we just couldn’t commit to it.

"Some of the premises we looked at we’re £1,500 a month and for a small business like us it was a lot, it was a risk.

"So we went for the best option financially and location-wise too.

"We still live in Hucknall and we’re still open for collections in Hucknall too as quite a lot of people like to come to our house.

"We’ll be still be operating in the same areas, just from a different base."

Kirsty says they hope to open the shop for the first time on Saturday, December 18, which gives them a tight timetable to get the shop converted from it’s current use into one for them.

She added: “We’ve not given ourselves much time but we like a challenge but we’re hoping we’ll be able to get it done and open on that day with some bottles of fizz, some food and nibbles and Elfie, who will be doing fundraising on the day too."

K&S also want to use the shop to help other small businesses in the area too.

Kirsty said: “We’re reaching out to other small businesses and offering a rent-a-shelf service in the shop for people who make handmade products or who work from home, and for £30 a month, they can have a place in our shop for them to advertise to our footfall and we’ll put it all over our social media as well.”

For more details, visit the website here or the company’ Facebook page here.