THE personal touch is at the heart of today's featured local trader, as we celebrate Independent Retailer Month throughout July by meeting the region's high street heroes.

Name: Emma Worthington

Business: The Craft Shack

Location: Mold Indoor Market, 3 High Street

Telephone: 07850 945192

Opening hours: Monday to Wednesday 9.30am-4.30pm, Thursday 9.30am-12.30pm, Friday and Saturday 9.30am-4.30pm

When did you open and why?

We started The Craft Shack from home in November 2016 after moving from Coventry.

We have four children, so initially started the business to work around them.

We started off making button frames and ring boxes after making most things for our own wedding. We grew pretty quickly, adapting what we make to meet customer needs and wants, purchasing new equipment and adding to our range.

We soon started personalised clothing and work wear, which is something that continues to be in high demand. We took a while deciding to take a unit on in the Indoor Market, as it was quite a leap from working at home but we took the leap and opened in the smallest stall on March 20, 2019.

Our business really flew from opening the stall and within three months we moved into an even bigger stall!

This is our full-time business, it is just me and my husband Paul that run The Craft Shack, it's hard work but we love it!

Paul is still mainly based at home working on designs and putting items together, while I'm based in the shop and help him when I'm home but he's definitely the technical one.

We decided to open a little shop because we personally hate shopping online, we like to speak to someone face to face and actually see the products on offer to see size and quality. It's also nice for people to have a base where they can come and meet the people behind The Craft Shack and talk out their orders and ideas."

Why did you open in this location?

Mold is a thriving market town and the community comes together and works well, we think it is an ideal location for our business and think we have something unique to offer to Mold and Mold will help our business flourish."

The Leader:

Tell us about your business...

We specialise in personalised/logo products. We supply lots of work wear to local companies and also supply to sections within Flintshire Council.

Services we offer include personalised/logo clothing and work wear, embroidery, personalised/logo mugs, school uniform and school items, personalised pet products, photo gifts, bottle lights, printed clothing, personalised bags, personalised children's and baby clothing, personalised bears, personalised memory items, personalised slate, personalised wedding and occasion items and much much more.

We always welcome people to pop in and see us or drop us a message with items they are looking for as we always try our best to make them.

What's your most memorable/proudest moment in business?

Reaching a point where our business had grown enough to actually open our stall. It was such a proud moment to actually move from home to an actual shop where people can come into and see what we do.

We get so many repeat customers and lots of positive customer feedback that means an awful lot to us.

We have always worked in sections that require customer service skills and that is very important to us.

Have you had any strange/quirky suggestions or stories from customers?

We get lots of sweary/rude requests for designs for items and clothing! We can't advertise these in the shop for obvious reasons but are happy to make them. Nothing makes us blush anymore.