A visit to Thackerays, Northampton
On Tuesday I drove over to Northampton to visit Thackerays, a store that i’d heard amazing things about. Not only did it have a fantastic range of designer brands like Ganni, Stine Goya, American Vintage and Veja, but it is also a family business that’s been in the family for nearly 50 years. The womenswear is run by mum Rachel and daughter, Ella and the passion and knowledge they have for the store and the brands is incredible. It’s such a welcoming space with plenty of room and you can also try on as they clean the changing rooms after every use.
I chatted to Rachel and Ella about the store…
Can you tell us a bit about the history of Thackerays?
Thackerays is a family run business for almost 50 years, where we pride ourselves on the best customer service, along side premium designer clothing. We have both a Ladieswear and menswear floor and are really lucky with our shop. It’s purpose built by us and is an amazing space to showcase our brands. It really is a family affair with Rachel and Ella (mother and daughter) doing the ladies wear buying and running the ladies shop floor.
Has it always been a passion of yours to work in fashion?
Rachel:I have always had a love for clothes but originally trained as a hairdresser which is ultimately aligned with fashion and trends. When I met my husband I joined “the firm” and haven’t looked back since.
Ella: Always! I’m so lucky that I literally grew up surrounded by the fashion industry. It’s a bit like it was meant to be! Other than that I went to university to study Fashion Communication and loved it, I always knew i’d end up working in some area of fashion.
What's the best part about the job?
We love making people feel amazing. Clothes really do have a transformational quality about them and we’re making it our mission to make sure every woman who walks out of our shop feels amazing, as well as looking amazing.
And the worst?
We love our job so much that we don’t really turn off, especially with it being a family business. We message each other at 10pm at night about ideas we have and there is no such thing as switching off your phone or a holiday. There’s always emails and no one to pass the work on to.. plus Instagram never sleeps!
It's a mum and daughter team that run the womenswear dept. How difficult is it working together?
haha, it’s not that difficult! We’re really lucky that we get along so well, plus we are like yin and yang. Ella is quite sensible and a bit of a control freak. Rachel is very easy going and like a Duracell bunny. So we share the load on the type of work we do. It’s also nice to bounce ideas back and forth. We spend almost every day together, even when we’re not at work.
It's a very welcoming environment. Do you have regular customers?
yes! we are so lucky we have regular customers and we love them so much… we love a chat so having a catch up in store is the best part of the day!
Saying that, since Lockdown we are getting so many new customers through Instagram who are now dropping into store. I think the store can be quite intimidating from the outside, but we’re such a friendly bunch and love a laugh.
You don't have a website, why is that and how can people buy from you if they're not local?
We found that through the website we couldn’t offer the same level of customer service we pride ourselves on in the shop. In store we offer amazing brand and sizing knowledge, plus extra services like an in house tailor. You just can’t replicate that online.
yes people can buy through instagram! We take payment via bank transfer and deliver via DPD next day delivery.
How have you coped during lockdown? Have you had to adapt the business?
Oh definitely, we stopped for about 2 weeks and then figured we had a shop full of stock that we needed to sell, so we started selling through instagram. We would post daily/weekly edits of bits we thought people would like such as our Agolde shorts when it was hot or American Vintage tracksuits and people loved it! We did door step deliveries in Northampton and used DPD for people who were a bit further out… we started getting people in Scotland ordering from us! It went so well we have carried on doing it.
Are there any stand out pieces that you're stocking this season?
People’s mind sets have changed over the past few months, we have become a lot more casual and I think more people are investing in pieces rather than shopping fast fashion. I’d take this season to invest in a good chunky boot. Not only is it a trend but it’s also really practical. Other than that, upgrade your loungewear as we’re spending so much time in it.
If you’re a lucky person who still has events such as weddings to go to, then THAT Stine Goya dress you wore is definitely a piece.
Any new brands on your radar that you're going to be stocking?
We’re always looking for new brands and spotting holes in what we offer. For Autumn Winter we have introduced Holland Cooper, a british brand great for outerwear and knits; it’s something a bit more glam. and UGG, if there was ever time to buy a new pair of slippers it’s definitely this year!
We have almost finished buying Spring Summer 2021, where we have got 2 new brands due to drop in November which is Faithfull the Brand and Les Girls Les Boys which we are soooo excited about.
What's next for Thackerays?
We’re really focusing on growing our Instagram and the level of service we give on there. it’s a huge business for us and is only growing. We really want to be able to provide the same level of customer service through our DM’s and channel as we do in store. We’re finding less people are willing to buy online now, i think they’re sick of buying stuff, it not fitting and returning it. Realistically that’s down to not being able to speak to someone who knows the fit inside and out. This is something we know we can do, and we excel.
Such a fantastic store full of exciting brands and gorgeous pieces like this incredible Stine Goya dress that I tried on above. Well worth a visit!
Thackerays, 251-255 Wellingborough Road, Northampton NN1 4EH or visit on instagram here
