THE OWNERS of a high street shop in Llandudno have changed the fortunes of their business thanks to an innovative new shelf leasing scheme.

Husband and wife Jake and Amy Bailey, who own Happily Ever After on Mostyn Street, were struggling to stay afloat as recently as January, telling the Pioneer they were “fighting to stay open”.

Having already sold their house to keep the business open, the toy shop went days at a time without making any money.

Now, thanks to an ingenious idea, the business had an “amazing” February, with plans for more growth.

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The couple are leasing shelf space in the shop to 15 independent traders from the area, who pay a monthly commission-free fee.

“We came up with the idea of renting shelves out to local crafters - it’s currently 15, we are hopefully going to get a new unit which will take another eight,” Amy told the Pioneer.

“They stay as long as they want, they rent and renew a shelf on a monthly basis, they pay a shelf price, they don’t pay any commission.”

The idea has proven very popular, and 21 traders are already on a waiting list.

North Wales Pioneer: Owners Jake and Amy Bailey with their child. Photo: Happily Ever AfterOwners Jake and Amy Bailey with their child. Photo: Happily Ever After (Image: Happily Ever After)

The Baileys took residents’ feedback on board when the original story was published, and Amy added: “It’s brought a lot of variety into the shop, so it’s bringing a lot more customers in, so the footfall has increased massively.

“All of them [shelf tenants] are doing extremely well.

“We got a lot of feedback saying there wasn’t enough shop signage, we had new signage put up outside; we’ve had a board made for local independent crafters as well, which will promote them even more.

“People said there wasn’t enough in our windows, so we’ve had ladder stands designed on the front.

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“People that would normally not come in, because they don’t like Disney, are now coming in and looking at our own stuff too.”

The scheme has helped turned the business’s fortunes around, with plans for more shelving space to be introduced in the next couple of months.

“We had an amazing February, which we didn’t anticipate – even the people that rent the shelves did not anticipate the February we had,” said Amy.

“We’re very positive for the year ahead now, this has brought a complete and utter change in what we do.”