‘If retail businesses work collectively and engage with the support a huge difference can be made’
Donna Mansell outside her shop in Hessle(Image: Hull and East Yorkshire Growth Hub)
The owner of a Hull clothing company which has traded for more that 50 years is urging others to tap into free package aimed at driving success on the high street. Audrey Mansell Baby Clothes has been welcoming customers into its Prestongate store in Hessle since the 1960s, having traded through a succession of challenges.
Donna Mansell is the third generation of her family to manage the family firm, which launched at its current site in 1969, and she recently benefited from a package of free advice and support, available for businesses on four high streets in Hull and East Yorkshire.
She is now urging her fellow business owners to take advantage of the support, saying: “Hessle, like many other towns, has a real challenge to keep its high street shopping areas due to falling numbers of customers and rising running costs. If retail businesses work collectively and as many as possible engage with the support offered both locally and nationally, a huge difference can be made, providing a brighter future for our high street businesses.
“I’ve welcomed the opportunity to engage with the Growth Hub high streets pilot programme. I’ve now attended two high street workshops and benefited from the free, specialist, one-to-one retail advice that’s available. I’m also booked on to four more workshops.
“This provision has led to me to look at the layout of some areas of our shop and how we can add on to our sales at check-out, which is going to be so valuable as my business moves forward. I believe there’s always something to learn, and that there’s always a way to make things better and gain customers and those all-important sales, and keep these customers returning.”
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Business owners on the high streets of Pocklington and Hessle in East Yorkshire and Chanterlands Avenue and Beverley Road – Stepney area – in Hull can benefit from the targeted support on offer, which includes a mystery shopping assessment and a one-to-one consultation with retail, leisure and hospitality experts.
Tailored to the needs of each individual business, the support is being provided by Chris Cartledge and Rachel Dillman of Insight6, a North Yorkshire-based customer experience consultancy. Chris has more than 20 years of senior operational and consultancy experience in hospitality, retail and high street environments, and Rachel specialises in relationship management and business operations.
Chris said: “We’ve both worked with high street retail and hospitality businesses for many years, so have a huge amount of experience of helping them grow and thrive by offering unique insights and support tailored to their individual needs.”
Growth Hubs across England have been tasked with understanding and addressing the needs of high street businesses in their region as part of a new pilot project. Locally, this programme of work is being delivered by Hull and East Yorkshire’s Business, Growth and Skills Hub, through its Growth Hub and working alongside its delivery partners Invest East Yorkshire and Invest Hull.
When the pilot programme concludes at the end of March, Hull and East Yorkshire Growth Hub (HEY Growth Hub) will share the feedback and insights that have been gathered with Government and this will be used to inform future support packages for our high streets.
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