Member Article

New premises the perfect gift for expanding North East entrepreneurs

Two North East entrepreneurs, Angela Cooper and Sarah Marshall, have expanded their online giftware business, the Dotty House, following the launch of new premises in Gateshead.

The expansion to Beaconsfield Avenue in Lowfell is a self-funded startup from the pair although a small loan was taken to cover necessary structural costs.

The Dotty House sell produce to an array of customers, aged from 8 to 80, who are looking for quality gifts for birthdays, christenings, weddings, Christmas and other occasions.

Products range from personalised christening canvases, to cards, to Jewellery, to homeware.

There exists both a retail and wholesale side to the business; the retail business sells giftware online and from the shop although the pair also manufacture their own products which are sold wholesale to other shops and websites.

Venturing into business together in 2005, the ladies launched the Dotty House selling handmade personalised canvases direct to customers via their website.

Angela and Sarah then did a trade show in Harrogate, leading to the canvases being sold nationwide through other shops and websites, in tandem with their own web based sales.

Several new products have since been launched including personalised christmas baubles, personalised framed prints and personalised santa sacks.

The Dotty House appointed local company Urban River in March this year to develop a new website for the company, who now sell other people’s products as well as their own on the site.

The company’s most recent venture into a high street shop came about as Sarah’s mum had a gift shop in Low Fell and decided to retire.

The entrepreneurs knew they had a great product range comfortably capable of expansion and in turn took on the shop in July.

The pair have since worked on a complete refurbishment of the building, refitting the shop with a new urban feel.

From the shop premises Angela and Sarah can make up and dispatch orders for their personalised products but also increase income by selling directly through the shop.

The pair told Bdaily that they aim to eventually move into a bigger premises and be able to sell a wider range of products.

In addition they also hope to be able to expand the range of personalised products we manufacture, several ideas are reportedly in the pipeline.

Angela and Sarah, told Bdaily: “The biggest challenge, as always, is getting people to know about us.

“We have advertised in the past but it hasn’t proved to be very successful so we are trying promote ourselves via social media.

“We have a Facebook page and also our website developers, Urban River, do seo work regularly to keep the website going.

“For the launch we produced a leaflet and had them delivered locally.

“We are both so excited to be opening our first shop together, it’s a good job we are so friendly as it’s a very small staff room!”