Tower and Town, April 2019

  (view the full edition)

Faux Arts

Sue Faux, who runs Faux Arts, has eight part-time workers in her shop. One of them (her daughter) has been working there from about the age of twelve. It is a fabulous family run shop selling home-made food and drinks with pottery, paints, paintings and postcards, which are made on-site.

This shop was set up by chance. Sue says, ‘It took a lot of nerve to set it up’. However, Sue now has been running her shop for seventeen years with her family and eight employees. The orginal business started in Pewsey, but she was given three weeks to get out of that store, and saw the opportunity in Marlborough to start up her business in new surroundings. Sue went to school in Marlborough, so it was a place she knew, and she already had clients from Marlborough College and surrounding schools plus families who live nearby. Sue told us that she didn’t necessarily have busy seasons, as she has a system where you work out how many hours you are open for and fit your clients around the timings.

Faux Arts has selling points that make it unique such as lessons for groups or individuals. People also feel it is ‘their space’, as they tend not to overcrowd their bookings and use the spacing wisely. However, in the lessons you usually have eight to nine people and also occasionally parties of twenty-seven people. Some of the exquisite products and paintings are sourced from China or Italy, but the majority are made on site.

Sue paints her own paintings and creates her own postcards, which are printed and sold in her store. They are extremely good, especially the postcards showing lovely landscape features. She sells normally three paintings each year and a large number of postcards, usually 80-100. Faux Arts make a lot of their products themselves, including some of the ceramics. They also make delicious cakes, brownies and hot chocolate for people to purchase when they’re in the shop. They have a pancake maker and an ice cream machine. They often have Marlborough College groups in at the weekend as their Sunday’s activities, which help the business. However, being on a side street, The Parade, is not helpful, so they promote their business by word of mouth, social media platforms, magazines, memberships and most importantly when customers have created something, and then walk down the street with the brand name showing.

Sue’s favourite part of the business is the freedom to change. Her parents run their own businesses and she wanted to follow in their footsteps. As your own boss, you can indulge in one area and become a complete expert. You can choose what you sell, what you buy and your sales technique, which makes you love your work. Faux Arts is a lovely place with a warm and welcoming atmosphere.

Nigella Broackes and Rosie Hodgson