This Friday Underlines interviews Tessa Brand, owner of The Dressing Room (Bath). As she laughingly says, she kind of bought the shop by accident! The Dressing Room was first opened in 1985 and Tessa took over in 2003 –entering a whole new career a world away from her previous life.
Life before lingerie
“My maiden name was Wren and of course when I joined the Royal Navy straight from school my nickname for four and a half years was ‘Wren Wren’ – it was good fun! I then had a succession of positions in sales, marketing or HR and think that this did probably lead me to where I am today or at least gave me valuable skills to run The Dressing Room.
“The shop was opened in 1985 by a lady who had about five bras in each size (and limited sizing at that) and all the nightwear was hung up with their cellophane coverings – positively discouraging the customers from touching anything! After 12 years she sold it to another lady who managed it for 5 years before I bought it in 2003.”
However lingerie retailing was not a burning passion for Tessa at this point. “I moved to Bath in 2001 and wasn’t working at the time. I was walking through the town one day in 2002 and noticed a small unit up for rent in a little arcade. When I contacted the estate agents, the chap was so snobby and off-putting, telling me that they would only consider renting the unit to businesses who they felt ‘made the grade’ and suited the ambiance of the arcade. I said the first thing that came into my head – that I would be selling very high end lingerie! His attitude changed in an instant but I decided they were the last people I would want to deal with. But by the time I got him off the phone I had convinced myself that this was a good idea!
“Naively perhaps, I had only heard of La Perla Lingerie as luxury lingerie at the time and so found the stockist details in an old magazine and gave them a ring. As it happened when I rang the receptionist was away from her desk and my call was answered by Alison, coincidentally the sales representative for Bath (some things are meant to be). We had a long chat about my requirements (talk about thinking on your feet!) and exchanged phone numbers. She called me back a day later and said that the owner of The Dressing Room might be interested in selling and she arranged a meeting. And the rest, as they say, is history, but maybe it was destined to be.
Tessa disarmedly adds: “I must admit that the really mad part is that I shook on a deal with the current owner never having set foot in the shop! So when I came in to do a stock take before we completed the purchase, I was literally learning everything from the very start. For quite a long time I felt like a caretaker really… after more than 17 years, I finally feel like it’s mine!”
Along came COVID-19…
“Didn’t it just! At the time, I had been working 4 out of 7 days and was trying to mentally work out if I could actually reduce this to 3 days when the whole world changed…most of March was pretty sporadic and by w/c 16th March both of my lady assistants said they felt rather uneasy coming into town so I ended up working that week on my own. By Saturday 21st, I had decided too that I felt uneasy (and also, could NOT understand why people were out shopping in town in the midst of a global pandemic). So I closed that day although Boris announced we were all closing down by Monday 23rd anyway so I wasn’t suffering from FOMO!
“I honestly thought that would be my lot, shutting up the business until the government would tell us we could re-open. However after literally four days, I started to get emails and phone calls from customers asking me if I could post things out to them and so it began! I don’t sell online so this was a huge deal for me. I worked every single day during lockdown, either at home in the office on my computer or in the shop premises, parcelling up orders for customers and traipsing to the Post Office or for local customers, doing hand delivery.
“Once we were told we could re-open on 15th June I just did not feel ready at all. I had got my groove and was quite happy doing things the way they were. I succumbed on 18th June, opening with reduced opening hours and days. Lo and behold, on that first morning, I had two regular customers waiting outside for me to open. ‘Oh we don’t really need anything, we just wanted to come along and say hi and welcome back!’ What a boost, could anyone ask for anything better?
And how is the business now?
“Since I re-opened my two ladies have been furloughed and I have been working 6 days a week on my own (Mon to Sat) but with reduced hours of 10.30-16.30 which has been much better. Over the past few weeks I now have one of my assistants back on flexi furlough which has been a blessed relief as it has all been quite exhausting from start to … now (can’t say ‘finish’ yet, can I?!). We have been much busier than I could have ever imagined which has been a real boost and because of the new rules (only admitting two people in the shop at any one time) it has felt quite manageable. Additionally, people don’t seem to mind about queuing or coming back later which is fantastic and eases the pressure.”
And thoughts on future-proofing your business?
“Well is there such a thing? I don’t believe anything is future proof. One can only be careful in the buying process, try to save as much money as possible just in case and take every day as it comes. We can do no more!”
