A small independent Shropshire store has been crowned the best gift retailer in Britain. So what, asks Andy Richardson, sets it apart from its rivals?

Laima Rullis, owner Michelle Jamie and manager Charlotte Alexander inside the shop.

Stepping into Wysteria Lane, in Shrewsbury’s Dogpole, is like entering another world. It’s a cornucopia of delights, a thrilling smorgasbord of interior treats and trinkets. Opened two-and-a-half years ago by the entrepreneurial Michelle Jamie, Wysteria Lane is a luxury lifestyle emporium set over four floors in a beautiful Tudor mansion.

And now, its status as the country’s finest shop of its kind has been recognised by national retailers in a prestigious competition. Judges at The Greats Independent Retailer of the Year named it the best gift retailer of the year in front of 500 guests and TV cameras.

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The accolade was just reward for Michelle Jamie, of Stanton, near Shawbury, who opened the store two-and-a-half years in Dogpole. “I’m really proud and pleased that Wysteria Lane won Independent Retailer of the Year 2009,” she says. “None of this would have been possible without the support of our suppliers, customers and of course local press coverage.”

What sets Wysteria Lane apart is its sense of fun and frivolity. It is separated into different rooms, which feature a range of products for the kitchen, lounge, bathroom and kids. And, while many gift shops and department stores concentrate on mass produced items that prize function over form, Wysteria Lane celebrates the quirky and offbeat. So, while its kitchen room, for instance, has plenty of practical goods, they are decidedly leftfield.

There are cleaning products by Cath Kidston nestled among polka dot storage jars, dainty blue egg cups and colourful crockery, cutlery and spice jars.

The store’s lounge stocks men’s fashions, shoes, knick knacks and accessories with shaving kits and brands like Paul & Joe, Disorder and Steel & Jelly. There are fashionable shoes from Paolo Vandini.

Ladies who love to shop often congregate on an upper floor room, which stocks fabulous fashions from around the world. Wysteria Lane focuses on clothes that have limited availability –- to save women from the embarrassment of wearing the same dress to a party as other ladies. There are plenty of styles, shapes and sizes with Coco Ribbon, Laceys of London Shoes, French Sole Shoes, Riminescento, K Derhy, Paul & Joe (Sister), Sugarhill, I-blues and Ruth Tarvydas all to be found. Teenagers are catered for with similar aplomb in the teenage bedroom, while a nursery provides gifts for toddlers, who can choose from soldiers, butterfly wings and other must-have items.

Of course, no home is complete without a fashionable bathroom and the Wysteria Lane section features accessories and gifts that are incredibly indulgent. Recognising that no true home is complete without pets, Wysteria Lane also offers essentials for furry, four-legged friends, who are also welcome instore. Finally, there’s a separate outdoors section for people who want to look fashionable while they weed and tend their gardens.

Owner Michelle says: “This was something that I’ve always wanted to do, since I was a very, very small girl. The idea was to offer a variety of products in a great environment with brilliant service and at good prices.

“We thought the excitement behind retail had disappeared and things had become too uniform.”

Michelle’s first step was to find suitable premises. She adds: “It was a interior design shop, we saw it and six weeks later we’d opened.

“We thought it would be good fun to trade across different floors and trade in different rooms. We wanted to trade in a different way.

“We opened our second Wysteria Lane At Home, in Grope Lane, about six months ago, which sells furniture, soft furnishings, lighting and some gifts.”

Michelle’s background was in retail and she had worked at Sainsbury’s for many years, across the Midlands at a number of stores. After that, she took a position at Mars, in sales and marking. She says: “Subconsciously, I was probably learning from those big companies because this is something I’ve always wanted to do.”

Michelle wanted to create an exciting shop. She says: “Ladies do like to shop. Whether they choose to buy something or not is sometimes irrelevant. You very often hear people gasp when they see things, or take a big intake of breath. We love to smile here, it’s not just about profit.”

Though Michelle now has two shops and an online emporium, she wants to move further forward. “The big thing over the next 12 months for Wysteria Lane is to consolidate and make sure that everything remains absolutely spot on. We take great pride in the attention to detail that we have always shown. We are not going to expand and expand at the expense of that.

“It’s very important that we continue to provide all of our customers with the best possible service and the widest possible choice.”

There could, however, be additions to the Wysteria Lane brand in the fullness of time. Michelle has lots of bright ideas and hopes to bring some of them to fruition eventually.

Michelle adds: “Eventually, we would like to look at taking Wysteria into other towns in different parts of the country. We have a lot of customers from Nottingham, Oxford, London and other parts of the UK.

“That makes us think what we’re doing here might work elsewhere. We’d like to look at whether it’s possible to do things elsewhere. But for now, we’re determined to work as hard as we can to maintain what we’ve got in Shrewsbury and, if possible, to improve it as well.”