Yellow Umbrella Gifts is a gift shop with a difference. With the support of 28 different artists and crafters and her mum, owner Hayley Kyte has created a vital space for Newton Abbot’s crafting community and its shoppers as it brings independent, handmade gifts to the high street.
Hayley Kyte tells us how the shop started, how she keeps customers happy and coming back for more, and how she has moved fast to compete with chain retailers in the rush up to Christmas.
How did you get started with opening Yellow Umbrella Gifts?
I started crafting for my mental health after 15 years of hairdressing, then it developed into the business with my very first tabletop event in Kingskerswell Church Hall. I just found my niche hand-making and designing plantable greeting cards and plastic free giftware, and made that a business rather than doing it just as a hobby.
Then that escalated into bigger events. I got a bigger gazebo, I wholesaled my greeting cards, I was in 86 shops around the country, and I met lots of lovely people along the way.
A lot would say ‘people aren’t coming to the event, people aren’t seeing my product, I’m not big enough to have a full website, I can’t afford to get someone to do it’, which got me thinking about why there wasn’t a local outlet for them to sell in Newton Abbot.
Because of that, I opened for shop for those local businesses and to also make shopping for handmade products more convenient for buyers.
What is business like for Yellow Umbrella Gifts in Newton Abbot?
Day-to-day, I’m open Tuesday to Saturday, and this month, I’ll be open for late-night shopping and on Sundays as well. I’m forever doing Instagram and Facebook adverts and proactively putting banners at the end of the street, which I think has diverted a lot of traffic down from the high street to the shop.
I try to keep the momentum going so it doesn’t just turn into another shop that people already think they’ve seen, so I move all the shelves around weekly or do the 10% off promotion, and have even started a loyalty card scheme. Even if people spend all day browsing, if they told their neighbour and their neighbour came back in, spreading the word is what it’s about.
People have really been positive and some have even said this shop is their happy place. The other day, just one person supported 15 local businesses and the shop in just a 20-minute burst with their purchase, which was what I wanted to succeed at opening the shop.
Truthfully, I was way richer doing my events and wholesale cards, but this is where my passion is, and sometimes you have to go with what makes you happy. That’s what I’ve decided in life.
How much do you engage with the local community, whether that’s showcasing the work of local artists or getting to know the people that buy from the shop?
That personal touch for such a personal shop is part of the reason why people come back. Because of my original trade as a hairdresser, I’m very good at talking. I like engaging with customers, and as much as I’m an unorganised person, I’m very good at remembering facts about individual people.
As much as this shop is my baby, I want all these makers to succeed, so I put a lot into it for them, That includes doing all the displays for them and moving stuff up to a higher shelf if it isn’t selling well, or hosting a private Instagram group to send business information to the makers and for the makers to send me what they want included in a post.
I’m also in the middle of setting up a Facebook page for the whole crafting community in Newton Abbot. I just want it to be a nice safe place where those that enjoy crafting can communicate and share tips.
The end goal would be to find a bigger premise to host craft workshops in and have a space for vulnerable people to learn crafting for their mental health, along with businesses renting it, but that depends on how the next two years go.
What are the benefits of buying and shopping locally?
When you go to a big box retailer, you’re just lining already well-profited pockets, whereas when you buy from a small independent shop, the purchase made that day could be the difference between their kid getting new football boots or how good their Christmas is going to be. The world would be crap if all the small businesses couldn’t keep going because we would be bombarded with awful mass-produced products that have no meaning whatsoever.
Even if it’s a five-pound thing, it makes the person that’s made it happy that somebody likes it and helps their life financially. It also puts money back into the community. I’m doing a raffle to raise money for Hospice, for example.
What have been the difficulties of managing Yellow Umbrella Gifts?
I don’t feel like there’s a lot of support from the town to divert people to the side streets, so I’ve had to do that myself, though I feel very lucky that we’ve remained busy even with these roadworks going on. I think that’s down to the quality in the shop and the footwork the 28 makers in the shop create, which also benefits the other makers in the shop.
The only thing I am worried about is that the property has got planning permission to give this building a facelift, which would be quite damaging for the shop with all the scaffolding up and not being able to keep the door open, which I am hoping won’t happen in the next two years.
How are you preparing for the Christmas season?
We had our first Christmas event in November, which was very busy to the point that people couldn’t fit in the shop. Every single maker sold something that day, so we literally took in a week’s worth of earnings that Sunday. We also held an event for the first night of late-night shopping where I had Bumble Bee Bakes doing cupcakes and biscuits to give to customers.
We’re opening up on December 15th to support the monthly market, as well as opening up a stall in the market to advertise the shops, with 10% off for people to spend in January. It’s just going that little bit further ahead into next year to encourage people to come back and have a look.
Have you got any advice for people wanting to open their own gift shop?
If you’re doing it for a complete and total business purpose and you want to make lots of money, that isn’t going to happen. If you’re doing it for the right reasons such as supporting the local businesses, your mental health, and you just want to make a difference, you should 100% do it.
If you do it well, it will work. If you can find a property that you don’t have to pay business rates on, it will work. If you’ve spent a few years of your life and it’s worked, it’s going to be amazing, and if it doesn’t, it wasn’t meant for you and you can go on to do other stuff.