One of the shops on Victoria Road in Saltaire has been reincarnated yet again. During the time I've lived in the village, it has been a gift shop and Saltaire's unofficial information centre, then it became Magic Number 3 - a delicatessen/café that later transformed itself into an ethical clothes shop. Since then it has sold vintage housewares and been a pop-up exhibition centre. Now it has reopened as Radstudio, selling bright, stylish, contemporary items, the kind of thing that wouldn't look out of place in my daughter's home but would look very odd in mine!
No 2 Victoria Road started life as Ellis Shaw's butchers in the 1860s. In 1880 it became a confectioner's, making wedding cakes amongst other delicacies. By 1935 it was a baker's shop, and the family that owned it expanded into No 3 as well and 'lived above the shop', eventually letting the shop itself to a variety of other businesses. It became the Information and Gift Centre in 1993, run by Roger and Anne Heald. (Information gleaned, with thanks, from Roger Clarke's book about Saltaire's shops: 'A penny for going'.)
We have some shops like that in our little village...seems they make a go of it only to be sold and transformed to something else. This one looks quite fun!
ReplyDeleteIt's great the store keeps reinventing itself, much better than being closed
ReplyDeleteGood luck to the new store. I hope there are lots of well-healed customers who like brightly colored modern styles.
ReplyDeleteWe've seen a rash of new enterprises in the high street of our local market town, but they never stay long. A symptom of the times, I guess. Good luck to Radstudio!
ReplyDeleteThe retail trade has changed so much in recent years (what with supermarkets and on-line shopping) that traditional shops have to search harder and harder to find a customer base. I echo Martins' thoughts - good luck to Radstudio.
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