A collective of small independent businesses – including stationery brand, Hello Time – have joined together to open No. 31 on Burford High Street in the Cotswolds.
No. 31 is a collective of 10 small independent businesses who have come together in a beautiful retail space on the high street in Burford, a popular destination in the Cotswolds. Customers can shop from 10 local brands, from beautiful homeware and candles to gorgeous knitwear and jewellery. And from the end of June there will also be delicious home cooked food and coffee.
Among the thoughtfully designed products and beautiful curated collections is Hello Time’s range of award-winning planners, stationery and accessories. Sam Smith, founder of Hello Time spoke to StationeryNews.net about the new retail venture: “I’m so excited to be part of No.31 and have our first ever retail space. I’ve been working super hard along with a bunch of brilliant brands to bring this shop to life in the space of just two weeks.”
Sam’s dream is to have her own stationery shop and sees No. 31 is a great stepping stone. “It’s great to be able to get the whole collection out so people can get a proper look and feel of our planners and stationery. Up until now we’ve been solely a D2C online business. It is completely different having a retail space and getting feedback directly from customers. We’ve had phenomenal feedback so far.”
Sam founded Hello Time in after a period of total burnout. “I was feeling overwhelmed and trying to do it all,” she said. “I quickly realised I could do anything but not everything and looked at how to spend my time better. At that point, I was shoehorning everything into a simple daily diary, and there wasn’t enough space.”
She searched for something to help organise her life, “but every tool I looked at was either very prescriptive with overwhelming layouts or didn’t have enough space. I wanted to fix a problem that no other product could do from my research and experience. But, most importantly, I wanted one place I could keep everything together – goals, ideas, notes, to-do lists, plans and my schedule. So I designed my own, initially doing a small print run to prove the concept.”
Hello Time’s planner has very quickly become its hero product, with Sam adding wall planners, desk pads, accessories and more to the range. She has just recently launched a corporate gifting service, offering a personalised and bespoke gift ideas for team members or clients.
