Old school shopping in Bakewell

Michel Turner has opened an old fashioned emporium in Anchor Square, Bakewell.

The venture, launched last week, will see a range of crafts people - who do not have their own shops - join together to sell a variety of goods.

JJ Joseph’s emporium stocks items such as ceramics, soap, candles and art, as well as picture framing.

Owner Michel Turner said: “It’s a micro store for want of a better word.

“Primarily we’re a picture framing business, with a small gallery in which we’re running an exhibition.

“We’ve had a really postive response to the emporium so far.”

He hopes the shopping scheme will help traders who are unable to afford to rent an entire store in Bakewell.

“I’ve heard of rents that are £25,000 to £30,000 a year in the centre of Bakewell,” he said.

Instead, those wishing Michel to stock their items pay him a nominal rent.

“It means other people pay 80 per cent of my rent,” he explained.

Michel has a history steeped in retail as his great grandparents opened what he claims to be the first ever department store in Ramsgate in 1875.

He was previously the managing director of BP special construction services and decided to set up his business in Bakewell after falling in love with the market town.

Michel now has high hopes of extending his existing business into an empty building which sits close to his shop.