00:00December 6th marked Small Business Saturday, a day to celebrate their huge impact on the nation.
00:05With over 5.45 million small businesses in the UK, the day encourages us to show our support
00:11by spending and shopping locally. I caught up with two business owners to understand what this day
00:16means as well as the challenges and triumphs faced as an independent store. The business Happy
00:21and Glorious succeeds in selling small British made gifts. So I waited until I was 34. It was
00:28the year of the London Olympics and it was the year of the Jubilee and everyone was feeling very
00:32positive so I thought I'm going to set up a shop selling British made gifts. I love running a small
00:37business. It's always different, it's always exciting. I get to talk to people all day,
00:42I get to surround myself with beautiful things, I get to go shopping on an enormous scale because
00:47I'm buying for the business. Yeah it's just, it's varied. I get to work with great people. I'm just
00:52really really lucky. Unravel and Unwind is not only a crafting store but also a place to come together
00:59as a community through crafting clubs and workshops. A lot of people see shops on the high street as
01:06just being a shop. You go in, you buy something, you leave. The difference with our business is it's a
01:13community first and a shop second so you're making those connections and it's with such a wide demographic
01:23of people. So I like the idea of post box toppers putting crochet and knitting artwork out there in
01:31the public eye to put a smile on people's faces and I found a lovely group of people that also enjoy doing
01:38that. So since 2023 we've obviously we did the TARDIS, we've done a Pokemon trail around Gillingham
01:46Town Centre during the Easter holidays for the children and the current project that we've just
01:54finished is making gifts for elderly residents in care homes who don't necessarily get gifts at Christmas.
02:03I asked some of the crafting group what these clubs mean for them and why we should support
02:08small businesses and what the high street would look like without them. Well the fact that I've met
02:14some wonderful people and it helps my mental health, homegrown stuff, homemade which I think is
02:25really important for this country as well. Supporting small businesses is clearly the way to go.
02:31David Brooks-Horsley for KMTV in Gillingham.
