My Sister

This is my sister

She is Sasparilla. She (and my mum) set up Sasparilla last July. The shop has had it's ups and its downs, do you remember when this hit the news in January.

"SEVERE weather conditions have led to warnings from police for people not to venture out unless absolutely necessary" - Harrogate Advertiser

I remember it. The snow was so bad and with the bad weather brought bad news to Sasparilla and many other shops around the country. With the retail industry struggling throughout December and January, we felt like we had hit one of the hardest times that an independent shop could feel, and we were only in our first year. Why would people venture to a tourist/market down in the bad weather when they could go to their local city either by walking or by train. I cant speak for the other shops in Knaresborough and other small market towns but it was clear that we were all in the same boat. With the same road ahead and tough decisions to be made. 

But now its May and the weather is gone, it is finally sunny outside, and we had a great day to brighten our hopes for the shop and for Knaresborough. The local magazine called plush sent a loverly photographer to photography, Kay, The Sasparilla Girl. Kay will be a feature in their next issue. Plush had offered to do the feature, which is fantastic.

Kay decided to wear a Forever Unique dress with skulls on it. I must say it defiantly says Kay. The maxi looked fantastic and flowed nicely with Kay's figure. You may not think this is the dress for you, but its excentic print was loads of fun to wear and also a bit quirky, like Kay.

As you can see i was helping make sure the photo looked just right :) On a side note, i have mentioned in past blogs about what i "normally wear" well there you can see it now, jeans, a shirt or sometimes i like the checkered kind.

Its these kind of days that make Sasparilla feel like it was glad to survive the bad weather and it made me realize that when there are bad days there are some that are just so much better and loads of fun. These days are the ones that we want to remember. We are an indepent shop, we do feel the storm when it hits hard, but thats what makes us feel great about Sasparilla, wearing its clothes and being a Sasparilla Girl. Even though we are still a young shop, we have survived the hardest winter in 20 years, thats a phrase i feel proud to say. And this day really reflected that feeling.

We are just Sasparilla Girls wanting to bring a different flare to a small market town, and bring a bit of fun along the way.

I wonder what Kay saw in that photo that day?? did she see just her self in a nice dress?? or did she see her achievements; creating her own shop with a fantastic variety of clothing for all women, surviving the bad weather, becoming a feature in a magazine, letting her sister write this blog about her and Sasparilla or did she see the beginnings of the next step for Sasparilla... what that might be who knows