Card shop couple looking forward to a better 2022 after family tragedy and flooding
Independent card shop owners Lisa Pessall and Grant Wilson are looking forward with hope to what 2022 can bring after two years of personal heartache.
The family was knocked back by the death of Lisa's mum; their bungalow in Waterloo Road, Telford, flooded; their business in Madeley was clobbered by Covid and there are also three children, aged 19, 17, and seven, to look after.
But now hope is on the horizon for Lisa, aged 45, and Grant, 47, after they opened their second card shop, called The Card Shop, at the Telford Forge Retail Park, in October last year.
"It has been a complete mix of things," said Lisa. "We were flooded in August 2020 and had to go into temporary accommodation. My mum had dementia and had to go into a care home where we couldn't see her because of Covid, and she passed away in November."
After an awful couple of years Lisa said: "We are doing OK. Omicron has put a dampener on the business as we are trying to get established - but we have taken a gamble and could not let this opportunity pass us by."
They have taken the old Carphone Warehouse unit on the business park and used various pots of money to invest in stock, fittings and birthday balloons.
"I am confident of our success," said Lisa, "because we sell quality cards for a reasonable price. We employ five people at the moment. But our success at Christmas will be still being here. We are sub-leasing at the moment and it finishes at Christmas."
As well as birthday and Christmas cards, Lisa says congratulations cards are among the biggest sellers in Telford - and they have a growing business selling large birthday balloons and table decorations.
