Mary’s Living & Giving Shop is a destination shop and it’s everything you’d expect from Mary Portas. First of all it’s beautifully merchandised, but even more importantly it was the best customer service that I’ve experienced in ages. It’s hard to articulate what makes good customer service but I’ll try. I was able to look around, the women in the shop said hello and make me feel welcome. I tried on a hat, I was looking for a mirror and the staff pointed me in the right direction and mentioned that the hat just came in that morning. It’s a fine balance between being friendly and not being pushy. The staff were so sweet and knowledgeable about their products that I just wanted to buy more things!

It’s unfortunate but I don’t expect great customer service in the UK. I was recently at a Fashion Business Club Talk where Yasmin Sewell said that the UK could turn the economy around if it had good customer service!

There are some great buys – Doc Martins for £40 and this Angel Jackson bag for only £150.

Lots of pieces made from pull rings by artisans in Brazil, and there’s a great selection of Mawi jewellery – perfect Christmas gifts!

Mary’s Living & Giving Shop for Save the Children
177 Westbourne Grove
London W11 2SB

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I recently passed by the Ace shop near Clapham Common and it’s quite a cute little shop.They sell lots of new and nearly new items, and they have quite a few high street brands – you can by a dress for £5 and designer shoes for £20. I bought three books for £1.50! The Ace of Clubs is a charity shop for the vulnerable and homeless, but it feels more like a ‘charity boutique than your typical charity shop. Mary, Queen of Shops worked with a different charity shop in one of the episodes and it’s almost as if they watched the episode and followed her advice word-for-word!

53 St. John’s Road, London, SW11 1QW
8a Clapham Park Road, London, SW4 7AR

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I was on a recent episode of Mary Queen of Shops and it was actually quite an amazing experience. Mary Portas was working with hair stylist John Peers, whose business was stuck in the past and suffering financially. John Peers was really lovely and is such a genuinely kind person that you just want him to do well. It’s quite astounding how Mary Portas is able to turn someone’s business around in a very short time. The effort that goes into the show to save a business is extraordinary and a lot of the lessons learned can really be applied to any business model.

I love that John also has a good website as well – it’s easy to use and you can book online. It’s great to have a shop and it’s also smart business to use the web and social networking to drive your business forward!

I grew up in Canada, which is more the land of giant malls than quaint little shops and boutiques, and this is one of the things that I love about Britain – local shops, so I really admire what Mary Portas is doing and felt very lucky to be part of this episode!

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I have been a huge fan of Mary Portas’ Mary Queen of Shops right from the beginning, so I was very excited when I was asked to be on an episode of her new season. This season Mary takes on a new challenge – to bring her expertise to 6 non-fashion British high street independent stores. I don’t want to give away what happens on the episode, but it was great to be part of it! The new season will air on the BBC in March.  I think it’s quite amazing the influence a TV show can have over the high street. Who wouldn’t want a shop makeover with business advice from Mary Portas?

Check out Mary’s latest project, the Living and Giving Shop, at 34 Raeburn Place, Stockbridge, Edinburgh. Tel: 0131-315 2856, www.savethechildren.org.uk.

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