Gayle Foster, the owner of Vintage by the Tower in Corbridge, has been invited to the House of Lords as part of Small Business Britain. Gail has been dedicated to increasing the sustainability of her business, whilst also learning more about the environmental impact of running a small business, by taking additional classes.
As any regular readers of mine know, I’m really interested in sustainability, particularly when it comes to clothing, so it’s really exciting to find more business owners dedicated to increasing their sustainability. I love vintage clothing, and preloved clothing, because you can find items that are going to last and last and last, rather than be just thrown away after a few wears, or when a minor repair is needed.
Anyway, congratulations to Gail for the recognition of her hard work, and I hope she has a great time down in London!
Corbridge is a beautiful village just outside Hexham in Northumberland, that has been settled since the Roman period, and has impressive Roman ruins that can be explored (read Part Two for more information about the Roman History of the town). It’s also full of independent shops, and interesting historic buildings and architecture that I love to have a mooch around when I’m in the village.
My favourite way to a start a day in Corbridge is to have breakfast at Grant’s Bakery and Patisseriewhere you can get the most amazing cakes and pastries to either eat in or take away. Last time I was there, I had a croissant stuffed with ham and cheese with a béchamel sauce with a little bit of added Dijon mustard. It was seriously tasty. The parentals indulged in a Croque Monsieur each, and these weren’t the paltry portions you might get in a chain café somewhere – these were absolutely enormous and would definitely set you up for the the day to come! There is also a huge display cabinet of cakes and pastries, including the famous Northumberland Pasty! We bought three cakes to treat ourselves for later in the day, and these were beautifully wrapped up and boxed for us.
The only downside of the bakery and café is that there is no in-house toilet, but given there’s only about eight seats inside, perhaps they’re not required to provide them. Corbridge does have free public bathrooms just up the road from the bakery, but if you’re disabled it might be a bit of a trek to reach them.
Following breakfast, there’s some lovely independent shops to have a look around, include several fashion shops, a florist, and my personal two favourites – aVintage at the Tower, and Forum Books which conveniently are right next to each other. As someone who can’t have pierced ears, I love the vintage store, as they’re one of the only places I’ve found with a wide selection of clip-on earrings. I have bought many from their really cool vintage selection, from large costume jewellery designs, to more subtle goldwork. They also have preloved clothing along with vintage homewares, and other interesting assorted curiosities.
Just next door is my favourite shop in Corbridge – Forum Books. Inside a converted chapel building, it’s an independent bookstore that I just love to go and have a good browse whenever I’m in the town. The only thing that does sometimes get me is that they don’t separate by most genres through the fiction/non-fiction (there are some collections that are separate), but most are mixed together, organised by author. In a way, this is a clever way of doing things, because rather than being able to go straight for the history section, or just look at fantasy, you have to look through the whole shelf, potentially finding other authors and books that catch your eye along the way. It is a beautiful bookstore, and I love having a good mooch. If you need something specific, the friendly staff are incredibly helpful and will find out whether they have what you need, or order it in if they don’t. I have spent many a happy hour in there, browsing along the shelves. I got a book voucher for Christmas ’24 and literally started at one end of the shelves and made my way along them, looking for anything caught my eye. Since starting in Corbridge, Forum Books has expanded into two more locations – The Accidental Bookshop in Alnwick, and the bound in Whitley Bay, so there’s other places to explore as well.
Stay tuned for Part Two of A Day Out in Corbridge where I look at all the amazing historical things there are to do in the town…
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Situated on the corner of Common Garden Street and King Street, The Exchange Lancaster (Instagram Link) is a beautifully curated preloved boutique store where the sustainability conscience fashion lover can find designer gems and unique pieces to suit all styles and price points. The vintage and preloved shop has been in business since 2010, showcasing sustainable style for a decade-and-a-half.
I will be honest here, I am on a bit of a personal campaign against fast fashion and fashion waste (along with many other people and organisations!), and I have an intense dislike for companies such as T*mu and Sh*in (asterisked to stop flagging on search engines), among others. Fast Fashion is one of the biggest polluters on the planet; cheap clothes come with an astronomical environmental and human cost and I really hope that the more people learn about the terrible practices and costs of these companies, the less they will use them. We already have enough clothing on the planet to clothe everyone for the next sixty years, we do not need more unethical and wasteful fast fashion that will collapse after you wear it once. Anyway, this article wasn’t supposed to be a piece about how terrible fast fashion is; it’s about the beauty of reusing and re-loving the clothing that is already out there. Because this is such a soapbox issue for me, I really love solutions such as The Exchange which encourage reusing good quality high street clothing, and finding vintage pieces to love for many years to come. Creating this circular fashion economy is the best way to stop waste entering landfill and also having unique and interesting outfits to choose from whenever you open your wardrobe!
How does it all work?
The Exchange takes in seasonal pieces from members of the public, and takes in those that are in good condition and that they think will resell. There is a huge selection of clothing and it’s wonderful to go searching through the rails to find pieces you love. This selection can range from high end high street brands like Whistles, Reiss, and All Saints, to labels such as Versace, Saint Laurent, Chanel, and Mulberry. All designer pieces are professionally authenticated by the highly knowledgeable staff who have been collectively working in the fashion space for decades. Reflecting this range of options, the price points range from £10 up to several hundreds for designer bags (that would originally have retailed for £1000s).
The Exchange isn’t just a place for fashionistas looking for a good buy; it’s also a good place for those whose wardrobes have gotten a little full, and want to make some money in reselling. Of course there are apps for that kind of thing, but The Exchange takes all the work out of it and will almost certainly get you a better price than you could sell it for in-app. The way it works is you take in what you want to sell (it must be in good condition/well-made), the shop will take the pieces they like the look of – agreeing a price that you’d be happy to sell it for – before taking it off your hands. The shop will then keep the pieces for six-ten weeks (depending on what it is/stock turnover/discussion etc.) and try and sell it. Once it’s sold, you will get 50% of the sale price back. Some customers take this as a payment, others prefer to leave it as a store credit on their account for the next time they’re searching for a preloved treasure of their own!
A couple of my favourite pieces came from The Exchange, including a Radley bag with tags still on that would have retailed for £250 that I picked up for £60. I also wanted to find something sparkly for when I went to see Taylor Swift on the Eras Tour last year, so The Exchange was my first port of call to look for something unique. If you’re prepared to go digging, there’s some amazing things to find!
The collection is constantly changing. The dedicated and knowledgeable staff in the shop are always rotating the stock, looking for exciting new items and curating different looks for the displays. If you have an account and let them know the kind of things you like/are looking for they’ll get in touch if something comes in that they think you’ll love!
The shop is open Tuesday – Saturday, 10am-5pm. Tel 01524 65456 or message the shop on Facebook/Instagram to get in touch.
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