Grace & Ted – The Designer Treasure Trove

Owning something designer would be amazing – don’t get me wrong, I love my Michael Kors bag that JB bought me a couple of years back but I’d love to own a Chanel or Gucci bag or a pair of Bvlgari sunglasses (OK, maybe not such a good idea…I’m rubbish – I loose sunglasses all the time).  I think it’s the price that puts me off..paying £500+ for one item scares me a little and I manage to talk myself out of it as my “sensible” head says that money should go towards something “adult”.

However…there is a little treasure trove in Bath that may have come to the rescue.  Grace and Ted is an award-winning designer re-sale boutique.  They have everything from Chanel, Hermès, Prada, Louboutin, Mulberry & many more.

The idea is, that when you have fallen out of love designer piece, Grace and Ted will help you sell it.  It’s priced according to it’s worth and condition and then placed in the shop. Once the item is sold, Grace and Ted receive a commission and the rest comes back to you. If the piece doesn’t sell, then it’s given back with no bad feeling!

I met Emma, part of the daughter and Mum team that run the shop to find out a little more about Grace and Ted (& to have a good old nosey round the shop!)

How did you get into running Grace & Ted?

The store used to be called The Frock Shop and my Mum (Sharon) and I used to visit a lot.   Mum has always been into fashion (she studied textile design in London) and when she was younger sold vintage clothes at a market.  When Mum found out that The Frock Shop team were selling, Mum decided within 2 days that she wanted to get in and have a go!  At the time, I was running a dog walking business which I sold 2 years ago so that I could work full time on Grace and Ted.  The shop has just had it’s 4th birthday in October.

Mum has a great creative eye and enjoys styling different pieces and I enjoy running the business so together it really works.

So if you’re Emma…and your Mum is Sharon…who is Grace and Ted?!

The name really has little meaning behind it.  We wanted to stock mens clothes as well as women’s so The Frock Shop didn’t work.  At the time, having 2 names in a name was trendy so we decided that Grace and Ted were two elegant people who wanted to dress well but didn’t necessarily have the funding to do it.

We’ve had an illustration done of who we think Grace and Ted are and you can see the brand labels on their clothes – it’s really clever so we’ll be using it to establish the brand.

What’s the biggest challenge you’ve faced?

It’s probably being found by people as we’re not on the main street in Bath however Kingsmead Square is full of independently owned shops so we need to shout about each other more!  Some people have lived in Bath for 20 years and have never been in.  We’ve spent a lot of money on advertising and have been included in some of the tourist maps that people pick up on weekends away.

Favourite piece that’s come in?!

We’ve had a couple of brand new Chanel bags in which are just beautiful.  They are exquisitely made and you can really see the value in them.

Alistair Carr’s Mum (Alistair is Head of Design at MCQ) lives in Bath and she bought in some pieces that Alistair made whilst at college.  These were complete one off designs and there was a wonderful black wool coat with an asymmetrical collar and bright yellow silk lining.

My favourite designer is Alexander McQueen and Mum’s is D&G so we really love seeing these pieces coming through the door!

If you could only own one luxury piece, what would it be?!

Without a doubt – and probably a real cliche is a Birkin Bag.  A brand new one is SO hard to get hold of unless you’re a celebrity.  They are a real investment piece as keep their prices.  There was an article in the FT last year saying that the bag had increased in value more than gold!!

What does the future hold?

People’s spending habits are changing – there is much more done online now so we want to expand our online shop more.  We want to work together with more independents in Bath and share each others successes.

I completely fell in love with a stunning Gucci scarf that was in…do I or don’t I?!

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