Marie Brown has been retail manager for one or more of our Blythe House Hospicecare and Helen’s Trust retail shops throughout the last decade, and now she is beginning a new chapter, after her recent promotion to senior retail manager. In this role, Marie will oversee all five of our local high street stores, as well as our online shops, including eBay and Depop.
Marie, who graduated with a degree in surface pattern design in 2000, worked as a textile designer producing products for retailers such as John Lewis, Dunelm and many others across the UK and throughout Europe. Here, she was responsible for bringing together ranges of designs each year and presenting them on exhibition stands at huge trade shows in Belgium, Frankfurt, Italy, London and Birmingham. This is where she developed her skills in visual merchandising and retail, and fell in love with how creative, exciting and challenging it was.
Marie then decided that working in the textiles industry was just not for her. She explains: ‘It was polluting, exploitative and wasteful, and I was unable to reconcile my conscience any longer. Therefore, I then left the industry and opened my own independent boutique selling Fair Trade furnishings, my own artwork, design-led gifts and interior accessories, plus ranges from other UK designers and manufacturers.
‘I also opened a gallery which operated as a community interest company for local artists which was run by volunteers. Ten years later, The Gallery is still open and can be found at 12 High Street, New Mills. Later, a change in my personal circumstances meant that my little shop was no longer viable, and in 2009 I closed it down.’
The same year, Marie was offered a managerial position in what was the original Blythe House Hospicecare furniture store in Whaley Bridge. She said: ‘In 2010, we opened a small Blythe House clothes shop just across the road and a further 12 months after, that we merged the two shops, and in 2011 became the Blythe House Hospice department store that we know today.
‘I was retail manager of the department store for five years until 2016, when the opportunity arose for me to become the retail manager for the three smaller outlets we have in New Mills, Chapel-en-le Frith and Buxton. Six years later, I have remained the retail manager for Blythe House’s shop in Buxton, and also our Helen’s Trust store in Bakewell which I opened last year. This is all about to change again as I recently accepted the role of senior retail manager for Blythe House Hospicecare and Helen’s Trust.
‘The retail enterprises for Blythe House and Helen’s Trust just keeps growing; ecommerce has expanded; the turnover of all the shops has grown year on year; we have opened a Helen’s Trust shop in Bakewell, and we are looking to open more. My new role is to support our retail managers and their teams to keep our existing shops safe and secure through whatever challenges may lie ahead, and to ensure they continue to thrive and generate essential funds that support Blythe House and Helen’s Trust in providing high levels of care for people with life-limiting illnesses.
‘It may be obvious, but I love charity shops; they are the perfect solution to so many problems – social, environmental and financial. To be given the opportunity to open more as we expand throughout Derbyshire is what inspired me to apply for the role and what excites me most about the future. I have been a part of all our charity shops for the past 13 years; some of our volunteers have been with us for decades, we have had many adventures together.
‘It is the people who are my favourite part of what I do; the dedication of our volunteers is my motivation, the generosity of our communities who give us fabulous donations of clothes, homewares, books, toys and furniture feed my creativity, and the loyalty of our customers makes all the hard work worthwhile. Our charity shops have huge personalities where laughter and cups of tea are very important; I am very grateful for both.’
Could you spare just four hours of your time per week? If so, does becoming a volunteer at one of our Blythe House Hospicecare and Helen’s Trust shops or online stores interest you? Find out more and apply online now: Volunteer Opportunities – Blythe House Hospicecare
