Established in 1973, The Sewing Shop has been a favourite of sewing enthusiasts in the North East for half a century, supplying sewing machines, fabrics and haberdashery.
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This October, the business is celebrating its half-centenary with a range of special offers and discounts.
But first, we’re taking a look at the history of this family business – and why it’s managed to last the ages.
From a sewing shop in England to the North of Scotland
Now located on Fochabers High Street, The Sewing Shop was originally situated on McVeagh Street in Huntly when it first opened its doors five decades ago.
Alan Williams is the current owner and the son of Ron Williams, who established the business in 1973.
He told us how his father, who lived and worked in England, decided to make the move north to open the shop. He explained: “The family originally lived in Worthing, and my father worked for Singer as an engineer and technician, working his way up to become manager of the Singer shop.
“However, he reached a point where he decided he wanted his own business. He also liked the idea of moving to Scotland, so he did both.
“The family moved to Huntly, and he opened The Sewing Shop.”
A family business in every sense, Ron then opened The Elgin Sewing Centre in Elgin and another shop in Huntly. These were managed by Alan’s grandfather, alongside his elder brother and sister.
Then, in 1989, Alan joined the business and launched a shop in Inverness.
A business built by family
Initially Alan hadn’t planned to join the family business: “I started working Saturdays in the business when I was 13. However, when I left school I wanted to do other things with my life.
“I had never really considered working for my father, but when I was 24 he asked me to run the Inverness store for him and I accepted.
“In 1989 I took over the running of the company when I became a partner, and my father retired in 2009 leaving me in full ownership of the business.”
These days, The Sewing Shop is located in Fochabers, where it has been since 2016.
The shop boasts one of the biggest displays of sewing machines in the area and it is the furthest north multi-brand sewing machine retailer in Scotland. They also undertake all servicing and repair work for sewing machines too.
Special Baby Lock event and offers in September
Celebratory discounts and offers will be available in the store throughout October, however, that’s not the only big event taking place at The Sewing Shop.
In September, the store is holding a two-day event to celebrate becoming an official Baby Lock UK dealer.
With demonstrations and exclusive discounts over two days, sewing enthusiasts will be able to see the unique JetAir threading mechanism which makes threading the multi-thread overlocker so simple.
They’ll also see how easy sewing can be with the ATD automatic tension system which makes the Baby Lock overlocker so popular.
A double celebration at The Sewing Shop
It’s exciting times at The Sewing Shop! Customers both existing and new can take advantage of the special celebratory discounts on offer this September and October.
Here’s to another 50 years of this much-loved sewing store!
The Baby Lock two-day event will take place in-store at The Sewing Shop on Wednesday 27 and Thursday 28 September. Special offers and discounts will be available across various products during October.
