Last week we celebrated 10 years on the high street! And 12 years as a business, so I thought it would be nice to share with you the journey of Beverley Edmondson Millinery so far……
Over the past 12 years, Bevelrey Edmondson Millinery has grown from a spare room in the family home to Surrey and the South-Easts leading millinery boutique…here’s how we did it..
I made my first hats aged 17.
I always had a passion for textiles and fashion (my first job was selling wedding dresses as a Saturday girl aged 14).
After a spell of work experience at Angels the costumiers I decided I wanted to make hats for my A level textiles coursework. So I took myself to London college of fashion to learn on a short course in millinery so that I could then make the hats I wanted for school.
From my A levels and having found a passion for millinery, I went straight on to study Millinery at Kensington and Chelsea college of Art.
After college and a gap year travelling and working as a camel driver in Australia I returned to the UK and worked for a small jewellery manufacturers.
At the weekends I started taking some of the jewellery from work and my hats out to market stalls and events signalling the start of the business. The event that probably had the biggest impact on the future of the business was @farnhammaltings monthly market…. a regular spot to start gaining repeat clients.
Gradually I moved onto bigger shows and events and left full time employment.
In the summer of 2009 I took up a pop up shop with @antique_rose_gifts in one of the orangeries at the bottom of castle street in Farnham for 8 weeks.
The spring of 2010 rolled around and having successfully grown the business from market stalls and appointments in my dads spare bedroom, I took the leap to open permanent shop front….it needed a lot of work doing to it, new ceiling, floors, electrics and entire new shop front and on the 3rd April 2010 I opened the doors for the first time.
This is where with limited business experience I really started to learn the ins and outs of running a business, it’s when I became we when I started employing our first team members whom without we would never be where we are today. Our branding developed over the years with numerous paint jobs and signage updates.
Come spring 2017 we had massively outgrown the first shop and had already expanded into an external studio space so we took the opportunity to move next door into a much larger unit with the shop front and studio in one. The luxury of space for clients to move around the store and space for a fitting room. This space has now happily been our home for the last 3 years.
Of course there are many things we have done that we are proud of, from winning awards to international press features.
However our proudest moments are when you, our clients, the people that we see day in and day out in store, entrust us to design and create your headwear for your once in a lifetime events and special occasions.
With out you there would be no us. Thank you to everyone who has been there from the beginning and those who have joined us along the way, every single one of you are part of our journey.
The basis of Beverley Edmondson Millinery has always been and always continues to be based on customer service and customer experience, these are the factors that bring clients back time after time, and has allowed us to grow through recommendation.
Over the last decade as a buisness and personally we have grown and developed in style and technique, in knowledge and skill, so lets take you on a journey over the last decade with one image from every collection since we have been on the highstreet, 2010 – 2020
We may have been in this little corner of Farnham for a decade but over our shops history we are but a fleeting moment. We love the rich history in Farnham, of those who have been there before us…..from Victorian times through to today our shop has seen many changes and stood during monumental moments in history…..the stories it could tell…..
Images from Museum of Farnham
We hope you’ve enjoyed this little story of our business growth and history of us and our shops, as much as we have enjoyed creating it and looking back at everything we have achieved.
Beverley x