Our Customers - Totally Unique and Totally Gorgeous

Would you believe that we have now been 'shop-keepers' for a whole two weeks?? And in that time we have met some absolutely wonderful, whacky, crazy people!! 

Most have got something to say about our Totally Unique, Totally Gorgeous Vintage Venture.....and we have found that it certainly takes all-sorts!!.....

Through our doors, we have had.....

The Doubters

"Well, I don't really see how you are going to make this work!! Do you know that you are just too far out of Town?? And you have got that lovely charity shop next door"

There always has to be at least one or two that would like to rain on the parade!!!

Bryony - Just too cool!!

The Debutantes

"Wow, I can't believe that Dursley has its very own Vintage Shop.  I wish I hadn't already bought my prom dress :( "

For those of you whose prom is next year, start shopping now.  We have had the pleasure of the lovely Bryony trying on outfits for next years Prom.  Clever girl!!

The Divas

"I love trying everything on" 

And we love seeing all of our clothes on bodies as well as hangers so we are more than happy to accommodate the odd trying on session just for the pleasure of seeing the beautiful clothes!!!

The Potterers

"oooo you have got some lovely things!! - I could spend hours just looking"

Please do come in for a mooch.  We love showing off our lovely boutique and are more than happy for all you browsers out there to come in just to see what we have.

The Reminiscers

"I can remember buying an outfit just like this one as my going away dress - this brings back so many lovely memories!!"

It is lovely to see some of our customers actually take a step back in time and recollect whole events that happened 60 years before!! Priceless.

The If Onlys

"I had one of those... and a hat just like that... etc.  etc.  If only I hadn't.....chucked it all out....taken it to the charity shop....."

Well, if everyone had kept everything, there would be no call for Lily & Violet Vintage!! But, there is.....yay!!

The "Just Passing By' Crowd

"I was just driving by and noticed your lovely windows and thought that I just had to stop!!!. What an amazing shop."

We are very glad to be stopping traffic!!! Have you noticed our changing window dresses??? We like to keep regular passers by with something new to look at, and new passers by with something lovely to look at!!

The Supporters

A true supporter - The lovely Rebecca

"It is about time Dursley got a lovely shop - may this be the first of many!! Very good luck to you in your new venture"

We agree that it is about time Dursley got something to talk about and that is what we are aiming for!!! The support we have received has been amazing - Thank You xxx

and last but not least......

The Del Boys

"Where do you get your stuff??? I have got some of this stuff in my wardrobe, if I bring it in you could take a look and see if you want to buy any of it..."  or

Could this be you - No!!!

"I have got a lovely 1980s wedding dress, do you want to buy it??" 

We can now spot this category a mile off!!!! We have been so overwhelmed with people wanting to sell us things that we are just saying no!!!!

Remember, our doors are open from 9.30am 'til 6.00pm Monday to Saturday, so please feel free to come in and have a mooch, try stuff on, tell us where we are going wrong, say how much you love our windows......Just stop trying to sell us your tat!! (even if it is not tat and is really very nice and probably a genuine 1920s flapper dress in absolutely immaculate condition or a virtually unworn 1950s Dior New Look dress... but its not  - so just stop it!!!!)

Mary & Lisa x 

Wow!!! What A Week!!

This has quite simply been an absolutely amazing week and we cannot thank you all enough for making it so special!!

The Lily & Violet Vintage Boutique has been in business for one whole week and there has hardly been a minute of that time when we have been alone in the shop....there has been a real buzz in the air and we are very chuffed to think that we have helped to create that.

Everyone that has walked through the door has had something nice to say - and it is all so lovely to hear!! It seems that the little 'ol town of Dursley has been just waiting for something to happen....and we think that we are just the start of that (and about time too!)

Totally Fabulous!!

We have had the pleasure of meeting some really lovely people this week and make some new friends along the way we hope!! We also kicked off our advertising campaign - albeit a bit low key for now.  We know that a few of you heard us live on Radio Gloucestershire this week and people came into the shop because they had heard us on air!!!

We have had a great time watching and listening to everyone's reaction to our shop and to the clothes we are selling.  As you know, every piece is totally unique and totally gorgeous and it has been really rewarding to see you emerge from the changing rooms looking totally fabulous.

On occasion we have been a little bit green eyed though, when one of our favourites looks fab and gets snapped up!!! Actually, that has happened quite a lot..... My favourite '60s shift dress - gone!! Those gorgeous red '70s shoes - gone!! The poodle scarf - gone!! The ostrich boa - gone!! This list could go on and on, so I'll stop now!!!!

Lily & Violet Vintage has had the occasional doubter too - but we really could count them on two fingers!! We know that Lily & Violet Vintage is going to be a great success and we will build our reputation to attract visitors from further afield. We know its what you want - and it is amazing to hear people walking out of the shop saying what a great time they have had - fantastic!!

Hana - a vision in pink!!

This week we have started #thronecam on instagram so when you are in town, make sure you are in our shop getting your mugshot on the throne!! For all you instagrammers out there, you can find us @lvvintagemaz and @lvvintagelisa.
This weeks offerings include the lovely Mrs Claire Hooper , queen of the throne, Uleygirl Nicola Davies (with whom we had a blast finding an outfit for a weekend wedding), and the absolutely gorgeous Hana and Rebecca Masters who were kind enough to try some of our special dresses on and looked spectacular in them!!! #if only.......

Breast Cancer Campaign

Our windows and boutique went pink for Breast Cancer Campaign on Saturday and we put our burlesque showgirl corset outside of the door.  It was getting quite a reaction from the bus that had stopped outside.  We would have loved to have been able to hear what was being said - it was funny,whatever it was!!  We love changing the view from the outside so we will be putting different clothes on the mannequins at very regular intervals.  Right now they have two of our very favourite dresses on - but then, they are all our favourites....it would be impossible for us to get it wrong...

Our doors are open every day from 9.30am 'til 6.00pm.  Come in and browse, have a mooch around.  And, please if you have been following us on Facebook read our blog etc, then introduce yourself - we would love to meet you properly!!

Mary & Lisa x 

"We declare the Lily & Violet Vintage Boutique OPEN"

OMG!!!!! We are ready to open the doors of the Lily & Violet Vintage Boutique!!!! We are soooo ready for this......are you?????

Getting ready for this day has been a really incredible experience - and we have loved every minute of it!!! - Even though we have been sick with anxiety for the past few days!!!  It is amazing to look around the shop that has now been transformed into Lily & Violet Vintage.  

As you know, we have handpicked all of the garments, accessories, shoes etc, and we have done exactly the same with the shop interior... Everything has been chosen especially for the look we wanted to create - and we think we have done OK!!

We managed to get the last few jobs done that we needed to... we probably missed a couple of price tags but nothing major was left undone - quite an achievement we think!!  

We attracted a crowd!!

The Cats That Got The Cream!

 So, we cut the ribbon at 10am and were so chuffed to see so many people there to wish us luck!! It all got a little bit emotional at that point, but there was no time to dwell on anything as we had a store full of shoppers!! And, shop you did!!

Our window displays were finally revealed as we cut the ribbon and they look pretty spectacular (even if we do say so ourselves!!).  We will be changing the mannequins very regularly and they will both be wearing pink next week as a show of support for Breast Cancer Campaign.  Our window theme is, of course, Lillies and Violets (what else??). Impressive impressionist we think!!!

Our fitting room was in use all day long and at 6pm closing time we still had people trying things on!!! Our first day could not have been any more perfect... Marj our Totally Tropical Caravan was gracing the Farmers' Market and receiving the attention she deserves, and the Boutique itself created quite a stir!!

What was really rewarding for us was to see people emerging from the changing rooms looking fabulous and feeling fantastic in the outfits they were trying on. Although we did have our eye on a couple of those pieces for ourselves.....(oh well, we will have to be quicker next time!!).  A few of our favourites have left the rails and are now gracing your wardrobes - just make sure you wear them!! and make the world a more unique, gorgeous, glamorous place!!

All of the comments we have received have been really positive. We were right .... Dursley is ready to ring in a few changes and we hope that we have contributed in some small way to that.

Bristol house 2014

Bristol House 1926

Everyone has said how pleased they are to see us in Dursley and what a different ambience we have managed to create.  We are offering a wide range of ladies vintage clothing and accessories but already we are being asked about adding to this.  It seems that the menfolk out there want a bit of a change too.......

Our doors will be open Monday to Saturday from 9.30am til 6.00pm.  We will probably review this in a couple of months time but would hope to stick with these hours and we plan to keep the caravans coming to the Farmers' Market once a month.

If you have got any suggestions for us, then please let us know..

Mary & Lisa x 

Its The Final Countdown!!

The Countdown Begins……..

Boxes everywhere!!

10……..With 10 days before opening we have been working our socks off to make sure that everything is exactly how we want it to be.  So we have all the stock in - (Phew!! at last you can move in my house!!!).  All of the shop cabinets etc have been brought in from storage.  It is all systems go…

9………So, we thought we knew exactly where all of the clothes rails and shop furniture was going to go… but, guess what??  When we started shuffling it around it didn’t look quite as we imagined!  But it was oh so close! So, after a couple of hours of deliberation we decided to flip all our ideas around and try a mirror image - and it worked!!  (And, we have managed to get a caravan in ;)

8………We put all of our boxes in our stock room and then started to fill the rails with the garments we wanted out first.  (You wouldn’t believe how much stuff we have got!!!!! )  We had already completed much of the labelling and measuring, but it still took ages to sort out. Then we got onto how to make it all look good - luckily Lisa is a pro at this and needless to say it looks AMAZING… 

7……….OK - thats today!! (scared / excited / shattered / emotional / excited / lucky / nervous / did we say excited??) We now have all of the wall hung stuff on the walls.  We were given a plate mirror and together with a couple of ‘rescued’ doors, it now looks absolutely fabulous.  We have wifi but yet have to try out ‘accepting card payments’.  And, we still have one light to fit - it arrived today but isn’t the right colour!!! AARrrrrrrggghhh.

6…..5…..4…..3…..2…..1     We will see next week if everything now goes to plan!!! This is the plan….although, it looks more like a massive to-do list!!

Slightly macabre - but we love them!

We have to finish a bit of labelling and still have to set out all of our hats, shoes, jewels and accessories.  Many hands will make light work of this one ;)    (come in and see what we mean!!)

We have our music to sort out. Sadly, we just won’t have the time for the old record player, or the cassette player that you had to press play and record at the same time if you wanted to tape anything! (remember those?) So we are going wireless techy…

Have you noticed how big our windows are???? They will be filled with a stunning window display (to be revealed on Saturday - to be made on Monday - fingers crossed our amazing plans work !)

Our sumptuous fitting room still needs a bit of soft furnishing to finish it off.  And the curtain tie backs need to be fitted - look out for them - they will not be like anything you have ever seen before!!!!

That must be about it…….We will let you know next week if the plan worked…

Wish us luck…..
Mary & Lisa x