The art of being a buyer, true customer connection, and thoughtful retail design with Restoration Yard

This week, we are joined by Taisir Gibreel, Head of Retail at Restoration Yard, the winner of  Best Store Design award at Draper's Independent's Awards 2021. Taisir speaks about how she's brought her years of experience as a designer to store merchandising, the thrill of buying and connecting with producers and why she just loves the magic and theatre of retail.
You are going to get so excited for Christmas after hearing this - enjoy!

https://www.restorationyard.com/

https://www.taisirgibreel.co.uk/

Transcript

Independent Thinking  0:09  
Hello and welcome to independent thinking the podcast exploring a new era for the high street. We celebrate independent business and bricks and mortar retail across the UK, those who are shaking things up on their local high streets, and who believe in the potential of our town and city centres. I'm your host, Alexandra, welcome along

Hello, and welcome back to the show. Now as we are well on the route to Christmas, it got me thinking a bit lost art of a beautiful mail order catalogue. Some of you may still be receiving them, but they seem to have dwindled and been replaced by an email which let's be honest, doesn't feel as permanent and is not as joyful to open. And it got me really thinking about my love of a mail order catalogue when I was younger. And I've been reading about this on the Patreon page. And it's just so wonderful to revisit all my memories of being immersed in lands and worlds that I just couldn't inhabit in Paris when I was growing up. If you're interested, then hit the show notes now where you can find out how to support us. This week, we are joined by cc from restoration yard, the winner of this year's best store design at Draper's independence awards 2021 cc speaks about how she's brought her years of experience as a designer to store merchandising, the thrill of buying and connecting with producers and why she just loves the magic and theatre of retail. You're going to love it. And it's going to get you super excited to make a trip to Dalkeith Country Park. Enjoy.

Thank you so much for joining us today on the show such a pleasure to have you

Taisir, Restoration Yard  2:05  
on my absolute pleasure. I'm quite excited to be talking to you today. Oh,

Independent Thinking  2:09  
good, good. Well, I know we are in your we have our award winner in our midst. So it's a tear, and it's exciting for us as well. So thank you, Restoration Yard is really a destination, isn't it? In terms of experience? I wondered if you could just tell how do you explain what you are and and where we can find you give us a bit more

Taisir, Restoration Yard  2:29  
well, restoration yard is actually the brainchild of Lord Demian. And he visited he wanted to know what to do with the stable yard, the stable block. And he visited various different outlets. And then he happened upon a Volker in Ireland. And he loved what he saw there. And he decided to do a bit of research. And he found Amanda Pratt, which is the daughter of Volker and she was the creative director of a Volker. So we approached her on LinkedIn, and asked her if she would come across the pond and help us out and see if we could do something different in the yard. So Amanda and Damien started to work together to try and convert the stable yard into a retail outlet. And then early, I think 2016, Amanda approached me as a visual merchandiser to come on board and to help transform the stable yard into a retail outlet. And the concept is that we create something really beautiful, it's all about aesthetics, you know, so beautiful products, lots of local artists and independent artists and as well as obviously, mainstream work. But the concept behind it all is that the store is actually about experience. So you walk through the doors, and you're blown away by the visual aesthetics of the store, the mixing of the merchandise, the colours, textures. So we want people to come in and go wow, and feel kind of blown away by some of the beautiful products that we have and the way they're displayed. It's really important how things are displayed in the store and the journey the customer walks through the store. So you might walk out with a mug or a soap or but we want you to come in and feel that you were part of something and to be touched in some way. And that's why we've got this well being element the restoration yard as well. So and we've got a wonderful of the kitchen, which was lovely restaurant, so you can go in there and have a real holistic experience when you go. So also if you want to do this stunning woods, speaker for lovely

Independent Thinking  4:29  
ladies Good to see because you're within this country park, aren't you? So it's like it's like the sort of the whole things and experience it's like I really like you could have a whole day there.

Taisir, Restoration Yard  4:37  
Oh, absolutely. And it's for everybody. So you could be a dog walker who would like to go for just a lovely walk in the in the park and then have a takeaway coffee, or you could be a family that wants to go to Fort Douglas and have some fun there and then come into the restaurant, have a meal and pop it to the shop for a bottle shopping. You could be some girlfriends who just want to meet for lunch and have something like In a lovely meal in the kitchen hosted by Julian and her wonderful team, and then you can come across the shop and see the reason my wonderful team and there's lots of wonderful things to do there to be honest and then we've also got go week which came this summer so those of us that are adrenaline junkies can go up go ape, and you know, scare yourself to death not my thing. I've done it once before. It's yeah, it's quite, it's quite scary but fun, you know, it's very successful people absolutely adore it. And then you can come to the yard and, and if you come to the yard, even the courtyard outside it's really quite a Tuscan field. There's a lot of thought and consideration that went into everything, the layout, the wallpaper in the kitchen. Even when you walk into the food hall, and you look look up, we've got this like stuffed Eagle, you know, that he used to actually Wow, yeah, he used to work the land many years ago. And now he's up there, you know, looking over the food hall as it were. So there's a lot of attention to detail. And when you're in the actual courtyard, to me, it always feels like I'm slightly biassed, cuz I just love it there. But like a microclimate. It's always so wonderful. Could be the planting. And Douglas does such a wonderful job maintaining the courtyard. But it is really a really beautiful, holistic experience when it comes to the art. So you must, must come.

Independent Thinking  6:23  
Oh, my goodness. I mean, what a sales pitch. I mean, if that hasn't made you want to jump in or jump on a bus or jump in a car to go. And fantastic. So I'm really curious then about I mean, there's so there's so much we can talk about. So I'd love to know your involvement in it, because you said you were approached. So what what were you doing at the time when you were abroad. So

Taisir, Restoration Yard  6:43  
I'm an I'm an independent designer myself. So I'm from a design background. I'm a textile designer, and I'm an artist, I live currently in the borders. And I was just looking for something else to do because I was in the borders. And then I had a meeting with Amanda and she saw I did some mood boards. And she saw some of my work. And I'm very everything I do is I'm a textile designer. So prints of my prints are very bold and abstract. And so even the way I buy so I quickly I came on board as the visual merchandiser. And I helped with you know, picking tiles and colours and helped coordinate with Amanda how to work with architects to ensure that we got the look in the field because she was in Ireland. So I was kind of that mediator between Amanda and and the team on the ground in our why. And then I think soon after, I think within six months, I took over as buying because I have 20 plus years experience in retail. You know, I used to work for Lilly and the house for to name a few. And so my background is very much retail. So I then became the buyer. But when you come into the store, you will quickly see that the there's a big design team. So all of the people that have worked in the organisation, and the buying end were either ceramics or Potter's or landscape designers. So we're all from a design kind of background. And you can look at the buying of the women's fashion Oh, she's a textile designer, because I buy a lot of print, you know, I love it, I think it's you know, really quite like fun to see like lovely colours and Bold Prints and mixed with her lovely textures and things like that. And it's the same with the own brand. So we also were very, I'm in a luxurious position where I'm actually able to tap into a lot of the art collection that's owned by the Duke. And we're able to draw a lot of inspiration from old textiles prints, arts caricatures, to create own brand products that are unique to the restoration yard. And they're all heavily coloured or decorative pieces. And that in itself lends itself to the ROI aesthetics and how we buy even other products or sit in conjunction with them. And we try and work closely with local artists. And so we worked with Laura Thomas last year, creating an own brand like collection of candles and diffusers and bath oils. And we work with a local company down in England to make all of our soaps. And it just is an opportunity for us to create and that brings in my design background. So I'm able to tap into my previous design and then it kind of works together. And I really love the work that I do there. And also the working for a family always gives you the opportunity to branch out into different areas. I've always actually I think I've always worked for families, in family businesses. I think when you work for family businesses, there aren't those rigid boundaries and you're able to cross over a lot. And I feel restoration yard. That's it's there. So I'm privileged to have access to that that archive of wonderful work and then to create beautiful products and then to work with local artisans to bring beautiful products to market that Some actually see the journey.

Independent Thinking  10:02  
I think it's incredible. So when you're choosing products, then what is important? What? What would identify our restoration, your product? Like? What are you looking for when you're looking with working with producers?

Taisir, Restoration Yard  10:12  
Well, I think for me, because I'm an independent design, I am drawn to independent design work. So I am drawn to things that are like unique and distinctive and bold, though, that's just a natural direction that I would go to because I'm an independent designer. But I try and find things. My first thing I have to be honest with you, is it beautiful, is that unique, you know, that's the first thing that draws me to a product, it might not be my style. So it might not be something that I would wear myself or choose to have in my home. Or, you know, so but it's beautiful. So I don't buy anything that I think is ugly. I tend that's tends to be even a book, you know, I do judge a book by its cover. Even when I'm buying for the books, which do phenomenally well for us, you know, I mean, I remember when I took over the buying the books were really quite slow. And then they just are such a massive department department. For me this also Well, I just love that to see people actually buying hard, like, actual books, not Kindles, but books, and all the books in restoration yard. I by visually, I got all that looks like a beautiful book. I have gone into now fiction and stuff. So I do think that book would look lovely on a coffee table. Oh, that book. Oh, the spine of that book looks beautiful. So I have to have to be honest. And then obviously, I do have a commercial head on because you know, we're 20 years of, of buying, you know, sometimes I do see really really beautiful things. But then I think the price point isn't quite right. And so then I won't invest in it. So absolutely first time driven by how it looks.

Independent Thinking  12:00  
I love I wonder if we could go in a little bit to your backyard. Because I feel like with 20 years experience, you will have seen quite a lot of change in retail or innovation that way or have you got any thoughts about Yeah, what have you thought to be your your time working in retail, I'm just sort of injury interested about that. Because I just think, Gosh, what's been

Taisir, Restoration Yard  12:19  
retail has changed a lot. I think the consumer is maybe Savea or fickle. But there's another consumer that really wants to hear more about the narrative about the background. And that's a consumer that we're tapping into. And this is why we work with a lot of artisans. And we do meet the makers in restoration yard where we bring local artisans, particularly in the food hall to come to the store and they demonstrate that product. So they can link with the audience. The audience now is very driven by you know, Eco, the environment, the impact of the environment, how sustainable is that product, how local it is. So we are acutely aware of that. So I do buy a lot of fashion that is eco, sustainable, or environmentally friendly. We also buy a lot of food that is obviously local, but also vegan food. So we definitely the consumer is definitely a lot more savvy than it was before. And that's really interesting. To to, to engage with. But consumers are still, in my opinion, the same as they were 20 years ago, consumers want to come into a place made to feel special, you know, and to feel that they're getting an experience, I still think that is the consumer when I'm on the shop floor. And I've worked a lot on the shop floor in the last 18 months because of COVID. And the structure of the of the team. It's the same all consumers just want to be like said hello to or engaged with and then to be shown products and to be told the story. And that's not changed in the 20 years that I've been in retail. I think it's the same I think we can say consumers are different and Mo fickle, and which I have said but that there's still the essence of the consumer that comes to the door is the same you know, you can make relationships with them. I have a wonderful member of my team called Abby, who has been with me since she was in her school uniform. So she has been with me five years, you know, it's her first career job. And she has wonderful relationships with all the consumers that come all of our loyal customers. And that speaks to the fact that customers still want to make a connection. And they they want to make a connection not with the shop or the brand. They want to make a connection with the people in the shop and the people in the brand. You know. So for me, that's been the same when I worked on the shop floor, or Lilly 20 plus years ago on Sloane Street. I was that point of contact the customers were coming to me and that relationship was really integral to how well that a certain product did or not. And I built these strong bonds and I see that now with Abby and Louise and with Yvonne that the customers come, they'll walk past me and they want to work directly with Abby or they want to work directly with Louise or with Yvonne. Because they knew that bond between the consumer and the front of house team is still essential because we are. We are social beings, you know?

Independent Thinking  15:22  
Absolutely. You put it so beautifully. It's that connection. Do you know what else comes up there for me is about trust, like people come to you because they really trust your opinion, or they trust your decisions. Particularly, I think in fashion, where I'm actually in any way I'm thinking of all the things that you tears of homewares it's just about sort of getting that support that you couldn't get online. Like that is why that is fundamentally what people go for and to feel special.

Taisir, Restoration Yard  15:51  
Absolutely right. When you say it's trust, it's because they trust what you know what Louise or Abby or Yvonne or Katie or any member of my team is saying, they trust it. I can sell food very well. I love food, I can sell fashion too, but not as well to my restoration yard customer as my as my team can because my team have built that relationship with the customers. But you know, if I'm walking through the food hall, I'll be like, Oh my God, you must try that chocolate Ashley Moorish and I can tell you most of the products that are in our food hall I have tried doesn't pass the taste test. I make exceptions to certain things that I'm not keen on. But you know, my team will be like no notice good. I'm not keen on anything to floral. So any kind of floral candies or sweets, I just think all of it is like curry. My team will be like, Oh, it's delicious, easy. So I'm like, Okay, so we've everything that goes in there, we've tasted and so it's, it's about, I think if you enjoy it, your consumer is going to enjoy it. And that's where I think our why the backbone of our why. And because we're a small business, we're able to adapt and change a lot quicker, because we're small, but we have an incredible audience that really support us. And they came through their droves through the doors, when we open the doors. And the first two or three months, we literally just our revenue was through the roof. And we did so so well. And it really helped us carry carry on. And it's so nice to see support for independent retailers, because everybody is so easy to shop online. And we've kept that momentum. So we've kept the online store going. So in a way it was if we didn't have COVID, we would never have done that big concerted effort to put everything online and we wouldn't have been disciplined to continue to put everything online. But having said that, what our revenue, you know, about 30 to 40% of our revenue is fashion based. So for us it was a rude awakening of how volatile and how dangerous it is to be so heavily reliant on one department. And I think the fashion industry as a whole became aware of that. So as an industry, not just us, we decided to move more to never out of stock collection. The term is noose in the industry. But the actual fashion industry itself also has moved. So a lot of brands that before didn't offer a noose ranges, and now offering new strangers and this is something that actually Vivienne Westwood has been advocating for many, many years, this disposable fashion, the short seasonality of fashion, it's only six months, that's so short, you know that you have things in the store for two or three months, then you have to put them on sale. It's not really in line with our sustainable eco friendly kind of thinking and the future actually. So a lot of fashion is moving towards noose ranges. And we are to so we are moving the way we're buying. You still want obviously, those special pieces, so seasonal hots, hot term, buys, etc. But I think long term, we're going to move away from such reliance on such a volatile industry. And actually, it probably just helped the industry itself go towards it needs to be we need to move away from disposable fashion, we need to move away from such short seasonality is you know, so that's tape changed, for sure. And then also what changed is how we bought so I used to go to trade shows they all just closed and disappeared, and ended up doing lots of zoom meetings, which is very difficult to try and visualise or even to feel I'm a textile designer, so I'm just

Independent Thinking  19:30  
gonna say yeah, yeah.

Taisir, Restoration Yard  19:33  
Like you're just getting flat screen. You know, it's really, really difficult. And I have to say, I think for those friends, some one of my colleagues, Yvonne said you you've done a really good job here. I bought everything on screen, because it's the best buy that you've ever done, and you'd like to get to good shows again. But yeah, it was difficult but interesting and challenging, it was a lot more time consuming. Because if you went to a show, you just went for two days, you bought everything, put it on the system, but you ended up doing getting line sheets having to go through all these line sheets. And because of my experience with ole whether a lot of wholesaling, I was uncomfortable with line sheets, but not I'm not sure if all buyers are. So you know, I was looking at all these line sheets and deciding what I wanted without feeling things. And then you did the Zoom meeting. And then they sent the order confirmation. So you know, something that took you maybe an hour or two ended up taking you a day or two. And then I have over 300 suppliers. So you can imagine that just sheer volume of work that came on the back of that. And then when the trade shows opened, which was really interesting. So they opened for the first time this July, August, September, I went to them, they were all a lot smaller. And then there were a lot of independent designers, you know, and it's really important to always have newness, and I felt that the store had kind of something kind of bar fashion, everything was a bit similar in the last 18 months, because there was no shows. And what happened when I went to the smaller shows, a lot of the big brands weren't there. But there were a lot of independent brands and I love independent towns anyway. So I did miss some of the big ones. But I ended up spending most of my my budget on independent buyers on independent brands, which was fantastic. So I ended up having a much more unique offer. So this autumn winter is potentially the most unique collection of products that I have in the five years of restoration yard. Because there was just a lot less in top drawer, where I went for the house and home and, and the gifting side of things. And I decided, You know what, I'm going to buy even more beautiful things. Instead of looking at catalogues of all the big brands. I thought no, you know, these guys have made the effort. And you go in there and we're, although we're independent business, and we're a small business to the independent designers were a big buying power. So for them, it was a good break. And so I was like, fantastic. So I just spent two days, you know, thoroughly enjoying myself looking lots of beautiful products, food, cards, stationery, I mean, everything was just really exquisite some homeware. And I brought them all in, you know, and, and something like some really stunning I remember one brand of Dugan dome, it's called. And I there was a mother and daughter there. And it's just such a sophisticated brand. And I looked at it and I stereotype I thought it was a daughter, but it's actually the mother who's the designer. And the daughter was helping the mother create a product out of her art, you know, so I think if I was if the show was bigger, I would have spent 80% of my time going to my usual brands, and then 20% going around a little independence, you know, but I spent 80% going around the independence by usual brands. So I think interesting. Yeah, it was wonderful experience actually and a lesson for me, you know, I think there's a fantastic buy a one I really respect who works for a reputable organisation. And she said to me, good buyers always make mistakes, you know. And this means because you're trying something you know, you're not playing it safe. I definitely tried a lot this autumn winter, so fingers crossed, I did the right thing.

Independent Thinking  23:32  
You should you should be I feel like I want to be a buyer. Now I feel like it just says like the most oh my god amazing career, like what a fascinating thing is do you have? Like, do you have something that you enjoy searching for more than anything else is for you is textiles, like in terms of its fashion element, or chamfer? Anything that's a bit of a set your heart rate,

Taisir, Restoration Yard  23:55  
I have to be honest, I love buying something, and then it doesn't matter what it is, you know, so I love buying something and then seeing itself. You know, I love that, you know, and especially when it's a high risk item. So I particularly love it when I buy something from an independent, independent designer or a local artists. And so it's a new food product, but it's not a big brand. It's a small brand. And when I see a consumer going up to the till and buying that product, there is a little like a little dance happening in my head. Jake, you know, I'm super excited for that actual independent designer, like, yes, you're making it and I will then reorder and reorder and you know, so I think I've had a couple of buyers who have worked for me and they have that same feeling. You know, they say, there's nothing like or when you do a display and then it starts to sell so because I'm also the visual merchandiser, those two things are very intertwined. So yeah, I just love seeing stuff moving. is all about things in transit. You So I just love that whole that movement from picking it, putting it on the system, putting it on the shop floor, going through the tail and finding a lovely home.

Independent Thinking  25:12  
You touch upon them visual merchandising there. And I think it feels like a natural point for us to kind of come to that award that you've just won a for best or design from Jeepers, congratulations to you and your team. And so tell us a bit more about that whole experience. And I suppose, yeah, and that holds store design and your approach to that store design.

Taisir, Restoration Yard  25:35  
So the store, obviously, originally, obviously, Amanda was very much part of so it's that aesthetic of a Volker. So she was definitely part of that whole process. And since then, the team and I have met kept her legacy alive by ensuring all the visual displays are always we hope beautiful. And there's some team members of my team that also really thrive in it. So I try and find different members of my team that really enjoy it. So I don't do everything because I can't possibly do everything. But some of my team, you know, Abby is now showing lots of signs of promise and in design and actually visual merchandising beautifully. I have some of my team who love doing mannequins, I mean, I do mannequins do but we kind of mix and match and they can maybe do a different display, you know, that I would think. But yeah, the idea is always to create a beautiful environment. So recently, we did a massive store move. And I moved women's fashion to the other end of the store. And I converted where women's fashion into house and home, a stationery and book. So the natural flow coming in from the food hall is that you're in house and home and stationery. And this is something that I was thinking about, like the design took a few months in my head to kind of kind of realise where things would sit. And I think Ronco, my boss said, Oh, would it? Would you think about moving the departments and other Oh, yes. Why not? You know, it's good to move. It's good to do things that are kind of fresh and different. So that was the ideas kind of percolated in my head. We then did the big move, and visual merchandising work because I'm a designer, it's very linked. Everything is about composition. I think one of my colleagues, colleagues, she's left us now, Krista said when she said watches me creating a visual display. She's like as CC sisters like a pool of push as I'm doing the display and interest that she said it was a Polish because what it is for me is its composition. So I will sit and kind of thing. Oh, does that say it and how is it balanced? And that's just I think five years of art school that makes you think of composition.

Independent Thinking  27:44  
So interesting. Yeah. You can't hide that training that is

Taisir, Restoration Yard  27:50  
regimented. But yeah, no, I mean, the world was, you know, we went we went down to London, a couple of colleagues and I and Damien was there as well. And I have to be honest, I did not anticipate getting the award at all. And I think I mentioned it to the to my partner actually said, oh, did you not get to the brief because I was just I was in a lovely poem, Amsterdam blouse, but I you know, I had my my jeans on, you know, it's kind of shabby chic. And everybody was really dressed up. So I did feel a little underdressed. But you know, I'm working mom and super busy. So and I didn't expect to win. You know, I went there. And when we won, I was genuinely blown away. My heart was beating and racing so hard. I genuinely couldn't talk, thankfully, because we were not allowed to do any speeches. We just got up there. It came down. And my heart was in my throat and beating so fast, you know. So yeah, and the team, we all work so hard, because creating a beautiful store isn't just about the visual merchandiser, the buyers, it's also about sharing my warehouse manager that unpacks everything and prices and, and helps bring the merchandise to the shop floor. It's about all the wonderful artisans behind our beautiful products. And then it's about all my team and the front of house is even about the cleaners who come and ensure that the school looks immaculate, you know. So it's it's a whole team of us that create that. So when the award was one It wasn't one person that wanted but it's the collective of the restoration team that has won this award. And we're overwhelmed and incredibly grateful to be recognised by Draper's for it.

Independent Thinking  29:31  
Oh, it's gorgeous. And it's so lovely to have you here you talk about the team. And and again, just how proud you are ahead and so important, I think because it is particularly in retail, I think every piece needs to be in place for it to work as well as it does. And have you had any interest in additional interest in in restoration yard because of the award? Have you have you found people kind of getting in touch and yeah,

Taisir, Restoration Yard  29:56  
oh yeah, absolutely. Yeah. So I think we've we've all had lots of local businesses come and get in touch, you know, so people on Instagram or on social media or via email. Now, a lot of independent retailers, a lot of independent suppliers, and makers are also getting in touch, there's definitely raised the profile. And then people are going on to our website or going on to our social media feeds. And they're seeing the eclectic mix, as the award has helped increase restoration yields profile, and not only brought new audiences to us, but also brought new suppliers to ask to so we're now looking at different suppliers and, and it's very much trying to work with local suppliers and local people to try and create something beautiful for us and them.

Independent Thinking  30:49  
Yeah, ah, great word worth suppliers for you to explore. Like, I love it. I love it. So, you know, we're kind of in the process of I mean, as consumers as customers, we're in the process of kind of getting ready for Christmas. But of course, retailers have been getting ready for Christmas since you know Valentine's day since the last one straight after Boxing Day. And so what can people look forward to from Christmas because it feels like quite a magical place to visit for do to do some Christmas shopping, jump on go eat things and

Taisir, Restoration Yard  31:21  
oh, it's I have to be honest, you know, I am biassed by the restoration yard does Christmas like no other place does Christmas. So it's not just about the store. It's about the entire space. So we have the best, most amazing Santa's course. He comes from Glasgow. And we decorate the Grotto in such a wonderful it's a room that is entirely decorated as if it's Santa's little house. And because we're a yard we have this little little it's kind of kind of large horse called George he's not real. But George tends to go into Sandra's little house with his card and the kids love him. So the children whenever they come to the yard, they always look for George is almost like our mascot. So because we're a stable yard and I think I don't know about Trump. I think he might have been the Dukes toy many years ago, but he's large, you know, he's like a big horse like almost life size but not real. And then we create this wonderful magical with over 15 fake Christmas trees, little Santa's grotto with the best centre in the world. And then we have the spectacle of light. So the entire fort Douglas is transformed and the orange tree is beautiful building is transformed with a light show and music and so you can come and go to the spectacle of light. And in the store itself. We do wreath workshops, we do kids pottery classes. There's also tonnes of wonderful and unique Christmas products to buy lots of them from independent artisans and local businesses. We do hampers we work with Melis cheese as well. So you can even get your cheese board if you want go for a lovely winter walk and then come for a nice hot chocolate. And the end of this month we've got bertos brownies, which is a delicious brownies company from Glasgow and they're opening and concession in the food hall. So you can come and get some delicious I can't tell you I got the gift. I told you I'm a bit of a foodie. With some bertos brownies and my birthday last year for my sister in law there was just so more ash and I'm so excited to have them on board and they do the most unusual and most delicious brownies like with Biscoff and yeah just absolutely yummy. So you don't have a hot chocolate or bertos brownies or you go to the restaurant have a wonderful meal. So yeah, it's definitely a place to come at Christmas because it's all about family or crafting so I know my sister in law and three of her friends are coming to do a wreath workshop and then a spot of shopping and then some lunch you know why wouldn't you want to do that and then we get choir singing and we have

Independent Thinking  34:05  
our Magical is it

Taisir, Restoration Yard  34:09  
it's truly trust me and outside we've got to huts which local artisans will come and do meet the makers so you get to meet different makers from food so food produces lots of free sampling yum, yum, yum. Yeah, so definitely worth a visit.

Independent Thinking  34:27  
Oh, I love it. Yeah, and I love I just love I mean I could listen to your talk all day I find your your Uzi Azzam, but just radiates from you. It's wonderful. But this idea of just learning more about the stockists and the artisans and the stories behind I love that you mentioned stories like because it is about it is storytelling in a sort of experiential or also in a sort of physical form. When you buy a product getting a connection to the person who's made it for you are all of that and I just I love that that's so part of your ethos as a store

Taisir, Restoration Yard  35:00  
Absolutely, and I think the word connection is really the right word. So it stems back to my original discussion about the experience between the consumer and my team. You know, there's a connection. So it's trust, and there's a connection. And now we are making that additional connection between the supplier, the consumer and my team. So it's all about the cause. In essence, as I said, before, we are social beings, we want to know we want the narrative, we want the story. And it's not something new. We've always wanted it many years ago, when we had just how a corner shop used to know him and his mother and his Ratty. And so it's always been like that retailing has always been like that. It's just we've got big online presence now. And lots of people do lots of online shopping, but when they go to their local shop or independent store, they want that experience again, you know, and I think in the yard and and lots of independent retailers across Scotland, that experience is there, you know, and there are lots of innovative retailers that need our support through these times, especially at Christmas. If you want to buy something unique. Don't go online, go into a store in nearby you.

Independent Thinking  36:04  
Oh, gosh, I couldn't agree more. I could not agree more. Thank you so much for your time, Saturday, honestly, you're just it's such you're such an energy in a radiance about you when you speak so it's just great. So thank you so much.

Taisir, Restoration Yard  36:18  
Thank you. My pleasure. I hope to see you there so yes.

Independent Thinking  36:22  
Oh god, are you kidding? Christmas sounds incredible. Give me away. Thank you for listening. If you've enjoyed this episode, then we'd love it if you read it and reviewed the show, or sent to someone who loves all things retail just like you if you'd like exclusive behind the scenes content and enable us to stay ad free, then head to the show notes now where you could find out how to support us on Patreon for as little as three pounds 50 a month. We'll see you back here next week. Have a good one.

Bye for now.