34-37 Lower High Street

Between January and March 2021, photographer Marta Kochanek engaged with some of Wednesbury’s high street businesses to gather their stories and listen to their hopes for the future.  

2020, undoubtedly, was a difficult year for all business owners, many of whom had to close down as they lost development opportunities as well as their clientele and 2021, unfortunately, proves that this may continue. However, we are now able to see the light at the end of the tunnel. The majority have tried their hardest to keep their heads above water; adjusting their businesses to the new reality was one way to survive the ‘now’ that none could have ever imagined when the new decade started. 

All of the visits Marta made to talk to people and to take their photographic portraits brought out the opportunity to start the dialogue.  Missing clients’ smiles and the ability to offer services were amongst many of the basic things that the business owners are looking forward to coming back to the most.  

ⓘ To see more, and to read captions, click on the photographs.

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Interviews

Simone’s Bridal – Maureen and Lisa Fowler

• How long have you been here? What made you into the business?

We are a mother and daughter team. We started off as baby shop, but it put us into a lot of stress. It was a nursery shop but we ended up making so many brides’ dresses that we diversified into moving directly into bridal. We are now here for almost 40 years. When my son died, he was only 18 and I needed something to concentrate on and I thought baby wear was what could keep me focused. However, as baby shop, we had lots of break-ins, 14 in fact. We could not cope, not only financially but also mentally. We also had a massive flood which ruined all sewing machines and all the stock, and it is where we started discussing the future of the business.

Someone suggested we ought to think about bridal; that was the start. We brought a few samples and we could not believe how busy we become. Everyone wanted our service; we could not believe it. It was such a good change. We started being invited to fashion shows, we realised how much we enjoyed it!

• What is your one good memory connected to this place?

The memorable part of the business is all the people, all the women we have met. We are in touch with the majority of them as they send the new generation back to us. Women come back, they bring their babies, sisters and cousins. Some customers who we made prom dresses for, they come back for wedding dresses and we become a part of their big day. There are so many stories we keep in memory, all the photographs they bring from their most important days. That’s so lovely.

• Can you tell me about one challenging memory you had in your business?

14 break-ins during one year. We ended up sleeping in the shop. It was when we had the children’s shop. People were after the children’s clothes, not money as we never kept cash here.

• What are your hopes for Wednesbury in the future?

Our dream is to see all these shutters going up, seeing streets busy. It is terrible to see so many shops being empty. We need a more village-like atmosphere as we want to give the best experience to our customers. The town needs to have more little shops which give more of the personal experience.

The Bowjangles – Aaron Sheldon

• How long have you been here? What made you into the business?

I started helping out my dad in his shop in the Jewellery Quarter when I was a child; then after school, I went to university. By then, my dad was in different industry but he had an empty shop that he didn’t use and so during my holiday times I asked if I could use that shop and see if we could get anything going. The Bowjangles built from there and when I finished university, while looking for work, I started making contacts in the Jewellery Quarter. They started lending me jewellery because I only had a limited budget. I worked hard and developed suppliers’ trust. All this allowed me to start building The Bowjangles and its success.

• What is your one good memory connected to this place?

I think the good memory for me is when I met the BBC reporters when we were still a small business. I was just filling customers’ orders and jewellery repairs and I met the crew; it was when myself and another company in the Black Country had just started buying gold, advertising to buy gold rather than sell gold. I then approached the BBC crew and asked if they realised that all the gold buying we see in the television started in the Black Country?

Following this, they phoned me up and they did the news article about us and literally overnight we had queues down the street coming to sell us gold. We did not even have enough money to buy it, so the customers were just leaving it with us and letting us pay them later. We built customers’ trust from there as a trustworthy company. Yes, that’s a great memory.

• Can you tell me about one challenging memory you had in your business?

A very challenging memory for me was about five years ago; there had been a problem through the banking sector as the banks did not do their job properly and it was in the news. Banks decided that they did not want to deal with our industry and wrote to everyone of us basically saying, “If you do the bureau de exchange, we don’t want you as a customer”.

Once you build your business for eight years and then are told that you cannot have bank account you find yourself in a scary situation as we were given two months’ notice and I had just got married that year. That was a scary and most unpleasant experience.

• What are your hopes for Wednesbury in the future?

My hopes for Wednesbury are investment in the buildings. I wish that the Council will take advantage of the town’s location as we have one of the busiest retail parks just a mile down the road and with the right advertising, I think Wednesbury could be turned into traditional market town where people would come for a more personalised experience that is friendly. They need to invest in buildings and help companies to set up. I believe it could come up as a great success.

The Vintage Tearoom and Café – Rachael Vitins

• How long have you been here? What made you into the business?

I opened the Wednesbury shop in July 2020, following the success of another business I run in another town. The reason behind me wanting to own such place is that I love teacups, tea pots, cakes, welcoming people and making them feel at home. I have always been passionate, a huge dream of mine was to open something like this.

I have been watching the company who owned this place before us for a while, keeping an eye on their Facebook Page and, unfortunately, due to pandemic they had to close their doors and couldn’t re-open again, so I got hold of the owner and the rest is history really. We came in, looked around and decided to take it over.

Wednesbury was always a special town to me and a lovely place to visit. I came here to buy my first rabbit when I was little!

• What is your one good memory connected to this place?

The best one to date: we had a bunch of 12 ladies in, we had a singer – a Buddy Holly singer – and by the end of it they were dancing in the street. It was just an incredible day for all of us; they had good food, lots of tea was flowing, I was in the kitchen dancing; it was just fantastic. This is something we need to get back; we wish this would happen soon.

• Can you tell me about one challenging memory you had in your business?

It saddens us that we lose the connection with people, with the Wednesbury community. Definitely it has been a tough time for us but we tried to adjust to the new situation; we started selling breakfasts, we have a driver who delivers food to our customers. We try our best to keep going, to keep offering quality service.

• What are your hopes for Wednesbury in the future?

We wish the high street to be busy again, we dream to see people sitting inside and outside, we miss people’s smiles the most.