The Emporium and Boutique – Our Journey

As this is our first ever blog, I thought it would be good to give you a brief outline of our Journey so far.

We opened the doors to The Boutique, formerly known as ‘The Community Chest’, Easter 2018. We were quickly filled to the brim, with donations off all sorts of lovely things. The upstairs of ‘The Boutique,’ was closed to the public as this is where the sorting and steaming of clothing took place.

Everyday was a fun challenge, items of furniture would arrive and to fit them in, the whole shop would have to be rearranged. We even took the door off a tiny cupboard to make space for all the lovely handbags we received.

Within 2 years, we really had outgrown the space and an opportunity came up for us to store extra stock in the old Lloyds Bank Building. Whilst looking around the Bank with the Landlord, Mr John Romans, a passing cheeky comment regarding opening the Bank as an extra shop was promptly accepted.

Within two weeks of viewing for storage use, thanks to a band of hard-working volunteers’ we opened The Emporium doors on 20th July 2020. We have grown from strength to strength, making a huge positive impact on our lovely little town and community so much so that we have just recently been ‘gifted’ the building to ensure it will always be a building for the town.

So hard to imagine now, how we all managed in the Boutique as we have expanded so fast and have nearly outgrown Lloyds. The Boutique has now changed beyond all recognition and is a stunning Preloved Boutique with beautiful clothing and accessories and The Emporium is a treasure trove of furniture, collectibles, antiquities and bric a brac with something new to see every day. Recently we have opened ‘Dapper Chaps’ in The Emporium selling Gent’s clothing and accessories.

Thank you to all our lovely customers and of course our volunteers, who have helped us be a success and if you haven’t visited us yet, please come along say hi and have a little chat and shop. You never know what you may find.

Winter hours are:-              The Emporium                  The Boutique
Monday – Friday 9 – 4       Market Place                      7 Market Cross
Saturday – 10 – 4               Sturminster Newton         Sturminster Newton
DT10 1AS                             DT10 1AN
0773343105                        07307054353

Cheryl Basten, manager of both The Boutique and The Emporium, and manages over 40 volunteers raising money through donated goods sold for the benefit of Sturminster Newton.