Tower and Town, August 2021 (view the full edition)Running a Business: Louisa Evans
It began as a hobby after I was inspired by a beautiful cupcake shop that I saw on honeymoon in San Francisco. Back home I started doing cupcakes, selling them at school fetes, fairs, village shows and Marlborough and Cirencester community markets, whilst in the meantime I did various cake decorating exams and diplomas. Then the premises in Hillier's Yard became available. Mum said it's about time I took on a shop, so I left my job as a pharmacy technician to follow my dream. I started in the shop selling celebration cakes and cupcakes and people kept asking me for supplies for making their own cakes. I've been selling cake supplies for the last 4 years since Mum passed away, which is when I decided to concentrate on supplies and equipment. People travel to shop here from the south coast, Newbury, Oxford, Hereford, Bristol, Reading, London. It's good for the town; they will have a coffee and spend money in other independent businesses. Unless people use independent shops the High Street will die. When Covid hit we built a website and, by the end of the first lockdown, Click and Collect was in operation. We've been building on that over the months. It has been very successful and has kept us going. We will go postal but that's quite challenging so one step at a time! People think that independents are dearer than online but they're not. You have to be price competitive; all my stock is price checked. My goal is to increase stock, offer a bigger range and keep adding the latest trends. At the moment they are rose gold and geo moulds. Skills learned from previous jobs have contributed to success of the business. Finally, my baking tip is to have the right equipment. I couldn't manage without a turntable and good quality tools and cutters. Don't stress if it's all going wrong - sit down, have a cup of tea and go back to it. |
My business [Luisa's Sugarcraft and Cake Decoraing Supplies in Hillier's Yard] is in a market where there aren't many of us. It started small and has grown to a range of about 4,000 different items over 6 years since it started in July 2015.