New life for empty shops in Oswestry
A street in Oswestry is to get new lease of life as two empty shops are taken over.
Cross Street has seen several buildings lie empty for a number of years, despite the town council contacting the owners and calling for them to be actively marketed.
Two shops will re-open in weeks, one a Nightingale House hospice charity shop, the other a pop up shop called Jolt.
Both let by Halls Commercial, they are due to be open in time for the town’s Food Festival in July.
Rebecca Welch, of Halls, said: “These are two interesting stores set to open in Oswestry. It is the first time Nightingale House will have a presence in the town after helping so many people from this area. Designs In Mind has been based in the town for many years so we are delighted they are bringing the Jolt brand, which proved very popular in London, to their home town.”
Jolt includes vibrant homeware and prints for the home in bold colours and patterns and the shop will also provide workshops for the public to try their hand at screen printing and lino printing.
Jo Watkins, from Designs in Mind, said venturing out from its studio nearby into its own retail premises was something new.
She said: “All our products are made by members who have been referred to our studio through the mental health scheme. We want to make mental health challenges part of every day conversations and one of the ways we do that is by creating things to sell to the public and challenging the low expectations that surround our makers.
“We were part of a social enterprise pop up shop in London at Christmas and it was very successful. This next retail experiment in the premises next door to our studio is a great opportunity to trial the idea of a shop before we get a permanent retail space base.
“There are so many interesting things happening in Oswestry so it is great to be able to be part of this too and reduce the number of empty shops here.
“We work with textiles, wood, ceramics, print and glass - our dream would be that the retail space could provide an income for our members.”
The Jolt shop will be open from July 8 to 22.
Nightingale House provides specialist palliative care services, completely free-of-charge, to patients and their families in the Wrexham and Shropshire border areas..
Caroline Siddall, from the charity, said: "“We have worked for people in Oswestry for a long time,
“We are really pleased to finally have a base there and are looking forward to seeing the great things donated, helping people find what they are looking for, and raising more money for the charity.
“It will be great for fundraising but also to raise awareness of the work we do in the town.”
Anyone interested in volunteering for Nightingale House should call 01978 314 292.
