Merry Christmas! We hope you are all having a fabulous Christmas Day, we have finally got our feet up and a wee glass of fizz on the go!
2017 has certainly been an eventful year of ups and downs for us here at Braw Wee, but we are delighted to be finishing the year on an absolute high after welcoming loads of lovely customers through our doors and online this past couple of months!
Braw Wee has for the most part just been me, which means when I can't work or not in good form then the business suffers - there is no one to pick up the slack or drive things forward. The list of personal and business challenges I've racked up since the middle of 2016 is pretty impressive, and I've had moments of real doubt if I could continue with the shop and what I set out to do with it. There have been many nights of tears and frustration that I've sat down and started to fill out those job applications but every time my gut told me to keep going and that that wasn't the solution. This time my stubbornness has paid off.
Our highlights have been:
Launching our Make Your Own Lamp Shade Workshops - we had nine workshops and made over 30 Lamp Shades or Bottle Lamps, all beautifully unique!
We have been able to extensively expand our range of products and welcome over 20 new Scottish suppliers to the shop including Clyde Built, The Big Cheese Making Company, Ishbel Watson Jewellery, Laura Spring, Lost Map Records, NAF Salon and loads more!
We have officially set up our not-for-profit arm of the Braw Wee Emporium which means we can look at applying for funding for some of the plans we had to pause while getting the shop on its feet financially.
In partnership with Rock Regen CIC (our landlords) and Glasgow Furniture Collective, we were successful in securing funding from the Glasgow City Council Stalled Spaces Funding for a couple of projects that contribute to the regeneration of the Barras Market. Watch this space for more info!
We also won the very first round of funding from the Glasgow Awesome Fund for our idea to train up local young females to become set up their own retail businesses and become Barras Traders - we'll be working on this in January too.
But the best bit has been that we welcomed hundreds of you through our doors and doon to the Barras, had great blethers and stories, and lovely compliments.
I'd like to say a massive Christmas thank you to all my wonderful suppliers, customers, cheerleaders and pals that have supported the Braw Wee Emporium through the tough times! I couldn't have done it without you!
Merry Christmas,
Jennifer
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