Market creates opportunities for independents
Middlesbrough’s Dundas Indoor Market is creating opportunities for independent traders they struggle to find anywhere else.
For Mikolaj Marchewka, who sells high quality curtains, it means he pays an all-inclusive rent unlike the spiralling costs he faced running his shop in Linthorpe Road.
Sarah Burton now has the space to showcase her talent for knitting, crocheting and card-making.
And Paul Arbuckle’s life-changing decision to invest his redundancy payment into Steel River Comics is already paying off. After just a couple of months trading he has already moved to a unit double the size of his first.
Market Manager David Harris said: “All businesses, particularly new ones, need certainty to plan ahead. That’s why we tailor our offer to an all-inclusive deal covering rent, utilities and rates”
That was music to the ears of 46-year-old Mikolaj who imports hand-made curtains and nets from his native Poland and now sells them – alongside women’s clothes – in the Hanger Shop.
“You can’t get these curtains in any other shop,” he said. “You can buy them online, but you need to see and feel the curtains to appreciate their quality.”
Sarah has been knitting, crocheting and crafting all of her life: learning from her mum, working in a knitwear factory for more than a decade, and now turning her passion into a business.
The 61-year-old has been selling her handmade clothes and gifts at boot sales and then came to Dundas to trade from one of the mall’s barrows. A combination of factors persuaded her to take the next step and open her Sarah’s Gifts shop.
She moved to a smaller house with a smaller garden, so had more time on her hands, and a unit suddenly became available. “I’ve been thinking about it for a while, because I tried the barrows just to see whether I’d like it and people would buy the stuff.”
As well as her hand-knitted and crocheted baby clothes and handmade cards, Sarah also sells wool and craft kits to encourage and help the younger generation to take up the hobby that his given her so much pleasure.
“I think a lot of youngsters want to learn how to do things these days for their mental health,” she said. “Crocheting’s a bit thing now. It’s a lot quicker than knitting.”
Steel River Comics – named in tribute to Paul Arbuckle’s birthplace – caters for collectors and the curious. It is a labour of love for Paul and also an opportunity for him to support the place he is proud to call home. “People talk about the decline of Middlesbrough town centre and I want to do something, in my small way, to do something about that. I want to give back to my home town,” he said.