A Dundee jeweller who set up shop on a shoe-string budget this week spoke of her tough first year in business, but said she did not regret going it alone.
Duncan of Jordanstone graduate Tracey McSporran opened the doors of Neo Design in Whitehall Crescent shortly before Christmas last year and has been left under no illusion as to how difficult the current retail environment is.
However, despite a ”few bad months” she has already surpassed her annual revenue target of £52,000 and is hoping the Christmas period will boost her figures further.
She said she had jumped into business on her own after getting ”itchy feet” while working for a Fife firm.
”I got a job in a contemporary jewellery shop and I worked my way up from making the tea and cleaning the jewellery. I was there for very nearly nine years and I grew as a designer and a maker. I got itchy feet and it struck me that I needed to get myself stuck in.
”I got Prince’s Scottish Youth Business Trust Funding they were fantastic and gave me a total of £4,500. I identified the shop unit and eventually got the keys on the first of November last year.”
Neo originally carried jewellery from 19 designers, many of them locally based, and that number has since grown to 27.
Tracey said business had been up and down but is now projecting revenues of £62,000 for the year and hopes to see a significant increase in returns next year as her experience as an independent shopkeeper grows.
She said: ”Neo Design is a place for individual makers to showcase their work and customers to get something a bit different from the high street.
”It is not any more expensive than high street jewellers but I can tell you who made it, where it was made and what it was made from.
”The shop was set up on a shoe-string budget so I was never going to make a massive loss but it has helped that the stock has been on a sale or return basis so I’ve not had to make a massive cash outlay.
”I have had a few months where it has been really, really bad, but the next month has been different and pulled the figures back up again. Trade has been in fits and starts but thankfully I’ve managed to meet the targets set for me by PSYBT.”