Help Us Grow!

Winter's Moon is taking a leap with a new space in Chichester and we would love your help to ensure we land on solid ground.

This business so far has grown very slowly and organically since we launched our website back in 2010. The growth has been without external investment but due entirely to our wonderful customers' loyalty and support. Since we took the step to open a proper shop on the high street back at the start of 2020, we have been made to feel hugely welcomed and valued, for which we are really grateful. Ultimately we are here doing what we do because we love the people this business brings through our door – the daily random conversations and the response to our little shop and the products we sell.

For a while, however, we have felt a little 'stuck'. Our shop at No 29 North St is beautiful but as a listed building, it can be challenging to run an ecommerce business from what is essentially a coal hole in the cellar.

While we have previously had additional studio space on the outskirts of Chichester, it's proved difficult to use it efficiently with a small team. So we are really excited to be taking on a small unit on Crane Street, just around the corner from our high-street shop. 

The new space will be used for making some of the products we sell, showcasing our fabrics better, running workshops, doing photography and packing orders. It will enable us to work more efficiently as a team and develop more of our own product range. It will also allow us to be more sustainable as we won't have to make any car journeys, ferrying things back and forth, as we have with our previous studio space.

It's scary doing something like this at the best of times and right now trading is erratic, so the fear is real. But the business needs room to grow and this feels like the logical next step.

To help fund the shop-fit and prepare the space for both working in and welcoming visitors, we have created some lovely products and offers in exchange for your hard-earned cash so that you can hopefully help to support us, if you would like to, as we take the leap.

We appreciate that we're living in very challenging economic times, so if you aren't in a position to purchase we completely understand. ANY support such as liking our posts on instagram, leaving a review for us on Google or recommending us to a friend is all still a massive help. And please remember you can enter our prize draw for free, to win a Winter’s Moon Bell-Bottom Lamp (or equivalent gift voucher).

You can see the range of ways to support us with a purchase HERE. We have aimed to create items and provide offers you will love and get great value from – so it's a win-win!

The money raised from the sales of these items will be used for:

• Putting in new flooring.
• New lighting and electrics, as the existing is of a dubious age.
• New workbenches for packing orders and use during workshops.
• Extra tech equipment as we will need to double up on printers and computer equipment.
• Moving costs.

We are still gathering estimates for the necessary work but at a rough guess it will be about £3-4K. The months ahead are when our cash flow is primarily focused on buying stock for the crucial festive period, and if you throw in the current unpredictable trading challenges, things can easily start to feel a little sticky. This is what we would like to avoid. Ultimately, we hope this initiative might give the business and all those it supports, including all the makers and artists, just a bit more stability in a time of such radical change and growth.

We also hope you, our customers, love what you get in exchange for your support, and will enjoy being part of our story, helping us take the next steps to grow Winter's Moon.

If you're able to help, thank you so much.

Julia xx