Evolving during the Covid-19 pandemic

Hi everyone, 

Great to have time to connect with you all. Hinckley Framers remains open behind closed doors and is awaiting the influx of framing when we reopen our doors again after the lockdown. We will continue our appointment system so be sure to book online before coming.

 Life for us all has changed, and for a majority our work life will have changed in one way or another too. Coping with family life, frequent isolation periods with the kids at school, the dreaded email text or phone call to say one of the kids needed to isolate again, planning how to manage the shop and schooling has been difficult. In October catching covid and sharing it with others unknowingly, and the constant risk of further lockdowns, its no wonder we have moments of being overwhelmed with what is a very surreal experience. 

However, despite all the negatives, we try to focus on the positives and evolve as not only a family but as a business. I am not a website designer, marketing guru or a blogger but over this last year, we have tried our hand at them all and our business has definitely evolved. We both constantly try new things to improve our service and obviously maintain some income to the business when the doors are forced closed. Not everything has worked well for us , we have had our successes and the things that have not worked well, we have learnt valuable lessons from and constantly reflect on how we could have done things better.

What is clear is that Hinckley and its surrounding villages have been so supportive in shopping locally, and because of that support many of the independent retail shops continue to survive. Blooming Lovely, Hinckley Photo Centre, R&J Travel, Aladdin's Cave, Hole in the Wall to name just a few, feel free to add more in the comments! Also late last year the ACE Burbage virtual market was launched, this has promoted a huge variety of local businesses, many I didn't know existed so I'd recommend taking a look. I also have to shout out the team at Hinckley Bid who constantly offer support and promote the town. 

One of my most frequent frustrations is the website not generating many sales, especially when we are only able to offer click and collect, I appreciate it takes time and its well used for information and generating enquiries but in this current world its about generating income. We have had some mornings when I check the email and a purchase has been made, this fills me with happiness and yes I do a little dance as its a little return for the hours I spend trying to improve it. Sometimes I think I must be missing something, if you know what it is please feel free to tell me! Its not been easy for me to understand, its like learning a new language, despite the challenges I am proud of the website and eventually I hope it will be utilised more, I am trying to make it more user friendly!

Remember this wont go on forever - this is just a blip in our timeline - take photos to record the memories, print them and make a memory frame, so you and your children and the children after have a physical reminder of one of the biggest events ever. Keep doing your cross stitches and don't forget if you need a new one we now sell them on the website.  Remember if you fall in love with one or two of your jigsaws we can frame these, they make fantastic pictures for the wall, remember to pop a note on the back explaining its a lockdown jigsaw, it a great way of preserving a memory.

Thank you everyone we cant wait to open the doors again, until we can stay safe.

Faye and Louis plus the 5 kids, 2 Cats, 3 rats, 1 Hedgehog and 1 Hamster