Husband and wife open new concept store in Heswall

Yasmin Collin, from Heswall, has her own independent business and during the summer she had the opportunity to open a pop-up store.

After finding that the space was a little too large for just her brand, she invited other businesses to partake in it.

'And Friends' continued to operate over the summer but when the pop-up was ending, it became apparent that it would be a good opportunity for a permanent business.

Yasmin, 32, along with her husband James Collin, from Ellesmere Port, found a premise on Telegraph Road, and opened 'And Friends' in October.

Yasmin and James (Image: James Collin)

Speaking to the Globe about the business, James said: "When Yasmin did the pop-up project all of the brands were locally sourced, whereas now coming into this space because it is larger we currently have around 50 brands in store, which is going up to around 70 in the next few days.

"We have curated the store based on the quality of the brands and everything is something Yasmin would buy for herself or somebody else.

"We want to introduce customers to things they wouldn't have been introduced to otherwise.

"We're both very passionate about creating opportunities for small, independent businesses because they are very much a future aspect of retail."

Inside the store (Image: James Collin)

James has worked in retail for 20 years so his knowledge will be used for customer experience and the day-to-day running of the shop.

Speaking about the Heswall community, James said: "We’ve found that the Heswall community aspect is really big, the shop has been really well received.

"Lots of people were sad about the pop-up closing but now we’ve opened the shop and taken it to another level and there’s so much more they can browse."

And Friends is open 10am-5pm Monday to Saturday.

To find out more, click here.