Transcript

00:00:08 Introduction

Welcome. You are listening to Links at Bain and Gray. A catalogue of podcasts centred on all things business support in the workplace. Our aim is to bring you interesting and relevant content that will keep you up to date and thriving in your role.

00:00:26 Cressida

Hello. I'm Cressida at Links and today I have the great pleasure of talking to Anne Marie Gee from fashion site, Reloved Again. Reloved Again, launched almost a decade ago…

00:00:35 Anne Marie

God, can you believe it? I'm feeling it today!

00:00:39 Cressida

… and has firmly established itself as the go to place for pre loved fashion. Welcome. Thank you so much.

00:00:44 Anne Marie

Thank you, Cressida. I am so happy to be here. Honestly! Thank you so much.

00:00:49 Cressida

I have known you for a long time.

00:00:51 Anne Marie

You have indeed.

00:00:58 Cressida

I know that you have enormous energy and I sense a real love for what you do. Have you always been in fashion?

00:01:00 Anne Marie

No. So I am one of six, Irish Catholic family. My parents spent every single penny they had to educate us and they wanted us, my dad wanted me to be a civil servant, but my mum was a little bit more understanding. So I ended up compromising. I did a business degree and then I did a masters.

And to be honest, at that point in Ireland, there were no jobs. I was an immigrant, we had to leave. There were no decent jobs in Ireland when I left in the 90s and I went to Germany and I did, I was lucky a lot of the German companies at that point were starting to take on international people and I got in at the right time and that's what I'm saying, sometimes timing is so important and they took me on to the graduate trainee programme and I worked in corporate business finance, you know, for a long time.

Really from my early 20s until I had my son, when I was what I was 38. So I worked for corporate from, well, a long, long time.

00:01:56 Cressida

And what was the what was the push? What? What made you change direction?

00:02:00 Anne Marie

I think I always loved fashion, but instilled in me is that you have to make money. You have to be able to pay for your apartment. You have to be able to afford things. So I.

00:02:10 Cressida

Yeah, life gets in the way.

00:02:10 Anne Marie

Life got in the way and I don't really think I had and I'm very conscious about that with my own children now. I didn't have. My parents were amazing because they gave me that work ethic to hustle, you know, like I'm a hustler. I hustle for every single day. I think I love people who who hustle because. Hustling is energy. It's like kinetic energy. When someone hustles, the energy comes off them and you want to be around them.

00:02:34 Cressida

So so did you have, was was this a side hustle then, did it start off?

00:02:39 Anne Marie

No, I think when I I had my second, I got pregnant. I was lucky. Took me a long time to have my first child. I had him when I was 38 and then my doctor said you've got to get pregnant straight away. Otherwise not gonna have anymore. So I literally got pregnant. I had Irish twins. I had two kids under. Oh, my God. Seventeen months.

And my I was about to go back to work and I remember my boss coming out coming out going. Oh, it's so exciting. You're coming back to work. And I was sitting there with two kids in nappies going. How am I going to do this? My husband was amazing. He's like, Oh my God, I'll help you. We'll get someone in. And I just realised I had waited till I was nearly 40 to have these children. And I knew the reality of my job. I loved it.

But it was the glass ceiling I was at at that point. It wasn't the job. It was the ohh “You know who goes to what meeting?”, “Who gets what car?”. And I just. I wasn't bothered anymore. I strongly feel about that. That a lot of women. It's not about the job it was about, you know the politics and I couldn't do the politics with the kids. That was for me the the decider.

00:03:39 Cressida

So what was your what, how did it start with you have a relationship with, with fashion and clothes?

00:03:43 Anne Marie

I loved clothes and I was the typical shopper. I was always on business trips, so I'll be going to Germany, going to France and I would just stop at the airport and I would buy random stuff. And when I was earning corporate money, that was not an issue. And then suddenly I wasn't earning corporate money and I had two kids.

And I looked at all the stuff I had, and I thought, Oh my God, I'm not going to wear this anymore. So it started really selling my own stuff and and then from that, it sort of became “the churn” I call it. So by selling I could then reinvest in something.

00:04:14 Cressida

But also I think you also get to the stage, don't you where, you realise it less is, less is more. It's not important you have these these little children that you look after and.

00:04:23 Anne Marie

No, I think I always love clothes, but I think I was a chameleon. I think I was one minute I would be in a jumpsuit and the next minute I'd be in a mini dress and I I kind of didn't have confidence. Maybe I think the kit I think, age and that's why I'm not worried about. I'm 52 now. I don't. It doesn't frighten me about ageing. I think I got more mature. I got more confident in my own.

00:04:45 Cressida

Do you think you found a style as well?

00:04:46 Anne Marie

I think also I found a style, but I also became more confident in myself. I didn't need to impress others and I think I dressed for you know, when you have a family, I had to be more realistic in what I was wearing and I had to think more before I just. I was like, it was like Pavlov's or I would see something buy it. See something, buy it. I would, most of the time I wasn't wearing it. It had tags on it. I had the I liked the purchasing experience more than maybe even the the item, and I think I realised that I was wasting when I had the kids. I realised what better things I could do with the money than just, you know, when you're on your own. It's so easy. Just buy it. Whatever you don't wear it. But I had responsibilities.

And and at that point then I kind of trusted myself more. I needed less and it gave me, you know, I think at that point I had to get rid of what I had but.

00:05:36 Cressida

You also, you started writing blogs to start with and this is the early days of the Internet.

00:05:40 Anne Marie

And I think the blogging, yeah, so with both. So I used to sell my own stuff on eBay and then I blog and why blogged was because I travelled a lot. I always had to make an effort wherever I went to find a hairdresser or a beautician or whatever. And people used to always text me and ask me where did you get this? Where do you get that?

And instead of just texting, I thought ohh I might as well just put it on. You know, put it on a blog, but it was old fashioned blogs. It wasn't blogs where you were paid to do anything. You got anything for free? It was doing and that's what I miss now on social media, the original days of blogging were sharing your passions, and now it's just about going to Soho House, you know? And I don't follow very many no pictures.

00:06:19 Cressida

Yeah. Turning up outside the Eiffel Tower and taking a picture going home.

00:06:22 Anne Marie

No, pointless! And like and that's why, to be honest, I very seldom do it now because I feel I don't think people really need people to tell them what to buy anymore. They kind of have enough stuff they can buy. It's it's helping them to realise that, you know what I've learned through through my business really is taking a breath, you know, life, you know, social media life is very fast. Sometimes it's good to take a breath, take a step back.

You know, trust yourself and look at what suits your lifestyle and your body shape, because that's not what social media is about. They want us to be identical dressing. Everybody needs to have, you know the same Celine bag, the same Loewe basket, same Gucci belt. But that doesn't suit all of us. And then we buy. It doesn't work for us and that's kind of where, you know, where I started off blogging. And then I felt really now what I predominantly do on the blog is is just giving people that confidence to sell.

Some people, also feel like there's still a stigma when I started off, there was a stigma and we've spoke.

00:07:24 Cressida

Yeah, about pre loved, yes.

00:07:27 Anne Marie

Yeah. When I used to sit at tables, dinner tables with people from school and when I was in corporate, you know, the corporate world, everyone you know, would pay attention to you. But I remember sitting in a dinner party and some woman, it wasn't even a man that spoke to me. And she said, well, what do you do? I said, well, I do, you know, I'm, I do a bit of blogging and she turned away! She literally turned away and she kind of more I could, I could see it in her eyes. She more or less thought I was running a market store like Rodney, you know, second hand shop. So there's and it really made me feel strongly about, you know, yes, I can go and buy nice things, but I choose to be savvy and smart and if I can find it for less, that there's no stigma. That's what. And if you look at all the fashion people that I've been lucky to meet, lots of people in through school who work for magazines, they all shop second-hand. They all shop at sample sales none of them pay full price, so I felt really strongly about all of this.

That truthfully, you know, yes, you can buy the odd thing. You know, if you're special investment piece. But the majority of things you can find in the sale you can find second-hand we don't need that much stuff. That's the truth and I think.

00:08:34 Cressida

I think your advice is is good because you stand by what you say you you do what you what you say you do.

00:08:41 Anne Marie

I walk the walk. Yeah, I do. I really have. And I'm very strict. Like I get offered so many jobs to go and do Next or and not that I'm against any of those brands. But the truth is, I'm 52 years of age. I've got a lot stuff I don't need another ruffly top, I I don't need it.

00:08:58 Cressida

You you, your site is uhm, impressive, because it goes from very high-end luxury brands down to much more affordable.

00:09:03 Anne Marie

Yes. And we will continue. And we proactively and it's not easy. So we when we set this up or when I set this up, I wanted people to have both ends. So I wanted them to be able to.

00:09:14 Cressida

There's no snobbery attached to any of the.

00:09:15 Anne Marie

No snobbery. They, I want them to like we had a lady today who was about to go to France to buy her Chanel. And she's saved up and saved up. And it's her 50th birthday present. And she just saw this come up on her Instagram. And she was like, oh, I can't buy that from Instagram. And she's saying, well, this new Chanel bag on your site is £4000. And I'm about to spend £8000 plus all the money to go to Paris to buy this one. And she's like, “oh, is it, I said it's the same bag. It's. If anything, the older bags are better made”, so I think I feel what I want people to be able to have luxury at every end of the spectrum. I want them to be able to pick up so you know another thing I'm passionate about is really high street and I do buy the odd thing from H&M, but more or less I've stopped buying from the odd T-shirt. Absolutely. You know, mid-level brands, I don't buy anything from them because I it's too it's like

00:10:06 Cressida

It’s fast fashion.

00:10:09 Anne Marie

It's mid-level brands are kind of like Zara, which is marketed better and I know that because I sell them all day long. And I just say to people, if you want Zadig and Voltaire, you know if you want one piece, fine, but you'll find the same dress. You'll find the same blazer, the same trousers. ME + EM. All of them. Second hand sort of paying 150, you'll pay 40. And you'll get bored of it the same way you'll get bored of the new one. So it it is about allowing people to go up the brand ladder.

I want people and sort of having to buy you know, Zara, they can get ME + EM and instead of buying ME + EM, they can afford to buy, you know Gucci and that's kind of what I'm passionate about.

00:10:46 Cressida

But have you got any any tips on what to look out for when you're buying pre-loved?

00:10:50 Anne Marie

Yes, measurements. That is a mistake people do. They don't measure themselves. So take your measurements, put them on your phone, under your arms, your waist inside leg, your hip measurements, and every single time you see something. If the measurements are not on line, ask for the measurements and be realistic. If it's not going to fit, don’t buy it.

Condition. Do not buy things which are, you know, it's fine if you just want. If you are 25 years old and you're you know, and you want that kind of boho look, fine. If you're a grown ass woman, you need fresh things because you know what I need. All the help I can get. You can't go around and kind of like half-worn clothes because you know, how do I say this in a nice way?

I'm tired, right? So I need fresh. I need fresh things so condition is important. Measurements are important and returns if they don't accept returns, don't buy it because you never know. You don't want to be stuck with stuff. That isn't what it doesn't fit. You don't like it? Our shop accepts returns. Any decent pre-loved seller will accept returns and if they don't honestly, it's not worth buying from them because you don't know whether it's fake. You don't know whether it will fit you or not, so there my and also my other thing is aim high.

People go after after the same brands. They go after Zadig, go after Ferragamo, go after Alberta Ferretti, go after the sort of top-end luxury brands which are not as popular because you'll end up with a cashmere coat from Alberta Ferretti for less than French Connection because people don't don't go after it, so look be adventurous on the brands.

00:12:26 Cressida

Are they? Are they investment pieces? Do they? They keep their value and they resell so they can sell them back.

00:12:30 Anne Marie

Yes! I think that you've got two different ways to go. You've got the pieces that when I buy something now I've got I buy for two reasons. One, because I absolutely have to have and I love it. Two, and I don't care whether I, because I'm not ever going to resell it, cause I want it. And who cares then, you know? But then. But that's like 1% of what I buy the majority of things I buy. So I've got a Prada bag here. You can't see it. But hopefully next time we'll be able to do a video. And when I bought it, I spent what I bought for my own shop, 325, I think I knew when I bought that when I come to sell it in a year's time, I'll get my money back for it. So to be honest, I am very conscious and you should be as well, that if you're looking for a Ganni dress second hand and if you're paying £150 for it, you're paying too much because you can, you know.

If, unless it's a sold out, silk version, fabrics, look at the label. I got taught that by one of my best friends, Chinas. Look for labels. Don't buy viscose if you can avoid it. Buy silk, buy cotton, wool. You know those are the things to look out for. So look at your labels. Measure yourself and look outside the box of the typical brands that people go for.

00:13:38 Cressida

Do you have any advice for the younger generation that are working in offices now post COVID, that are having to to have a wardrobe which they haven’t had?

00:13:50 Anne Marie

Ohh we have so many. Oh my God. We have most of our clients are sort of 25 to 35 and a lot of them work in offices like this in Soho and they have a lot of events and they have to keep and some of them rent. But what they're finding with rental is a lot of the clothing is very worn and it looks a bit shabby and when they come to an event, they're kind of well. This looks a bit worn and used, so they're kind of coming to us looking at event wear particularly they're looking at skirts, things that like a Joseph skirt where if they went into Joseph they would have to spend 270 whereas they'll they'll go you know, what? That pencil skirt is, you know, £50-60. I'm going to dress it down. I'm going to dress it with a beautiful T-shirt or a white vest and my trainers and I have that grown up look because I've got that Joseph piece, that kind of anchors my whole look rather than going and buying a Zara skirt.

So they might have a Zara blouse, but they want a really beautiful pair of trousers from anyway Bash. But they don't want to spend £250 so they'll have you know mixing and matching is really important and getting good basics like I always say, avoid black trousers, buy navy ones because the minute you put black trousers on, there's always that danger. You go into the kind of waitress territory.

00:15:03 Cressida

It looks a bit cheaper, doesn't it?

00:15:13 Anne Marie

Yeah, navy trousers. You can find them all over the pre-loved market. Skirts don't go for a black pencil skirt, go for a lovely patterned one because again, a patterned worn with a lovely white T-shirt looks beautiful.

And dresses like I always say dresses are a fortune and they're the easiest things to buy because you measure your underarm, you measure your waist. We have so many event dresses and they fly out because people go, I've got a wedding to go to and when you're in your 20s and early 30s, it's wedding season. You know, and they all go to Ganni. And they want and they have this and the problem is by by buying second hand, you're not going to have the same dress as every single person will have at that wedding, because they'll go into Ganni and they buy the dress and you spend £280, £300 on a dress that three of the women have at the wedding by the prior season. And buy the silk one for the same price as the other girls will have the viscose one. And that's you can buy Ganni, Rixo or all of those brands second hand.

00:16:00 Cressida

Is there anything that you stay away from? What would you not resell?

00:16:03 Anne Marie

I don't, fur. I mean, we're very careful now. I mean, if we have a piece, we won't put it online. We won't. We may, you know, if the, if it's a really good client, but we won't market it because it accepts people and I understand that. So we don't wanna upset anybody and we won't buy, we will not take any of the kind of Internet fur, it has to be vintage or it has to be something which is ethically sourced that we're very careful on.

I think the other thing we're very careful on is like pencil, you know, you cannot sell, sell a shift, dress for life, nor money, even though they probably will come back. You know, the truth is, yeah, he will probably wear one with sliders next week, and then we'll all be in our shift dress and also careful with Vista Village like we, get a lot of people who've bought very expensive Gucci bags at Vista Village. People know them by the numbering, so you know, you can't say, you know, you might have spent £1000. And then the new price is. It's not because, you know, this village has its own manufacturing. Again, be when you're buying a bag, you know, ask the seller where was it bought because it was bought at Vista Village, you're not going to, you know, don't pay the same amount as if it was bought from the Gucci store in Bond Street. So that's what I would say.

00:17:16 Cressida

Tell me about your your support. Tell me about the the people that you employ.

00:17:22 Anne Marie

Oh my God, I could not do it. I you know, and this is the kind of message I want to bring across that when you start your own business, you know, don't think about, “Oh my God, this person has huge office.” I have the tiniest office like literally it's like I would say it's like a hell hole, but it's close to my home and like it works for me.

And also I love my staff so much that they have children now and they need to get to their schools, which are around the corner. So the team I have, we are all passionate about, we all buy second-hand. So we're all obsessed about the deal. We're all like we all we do all day is “Oh my God. I can't believe they spent that much money on it. If I went too Depop, I would get it for this.”

We love clothes. We're obsessed by clothes, and we talk about clothes all day, and that is a joy. And they work hard like me.

And we are all learning. I learned from them and hopefully they'll learn from me and I feel like we're, you know, we are building, we're growing hugely. We're one of probably the biggest now online retailers with no, we don't spend money on marketing, advertising because if we did, we would have to press pass the money on to and this is what people forget if someone is a fancy office, or crazy amount of influencers you're paying for that freebie, right? So we don't do that because we would rather give you low prices and low commission rates.

00:18:43 Cressida

And how have you found, how did you find your community? Does it was it initially through friends and family and it and it grew?

00:18:51 Anne Marie

I think with you know, I think really it's important to go with your gut instinct and be ready to train people, you know, be ready to be patient because they have to be patient with me. I'm not perfect. But be patient. I'm a much better employer. When I was, I was awful. Gotta help the people who used to work for me. I was so impatient. I was so demanding and I didn't listen. Now I'm a listener. I listen to them because sometimes they're telling me something and I'm busy. And I'm half and then I go home and I go, “You know what? They're absolutely right.”

00:19:26 Cressida

Yes.

00:19:26 Anne Marie

Listening is so important, and because they're doing the day-to-day job, so they know it better than me and listening and also not, you know, like trying to, like, getting fr- last week. I was so frustrated with social media, and I'm sure lots of small businesses are the same. Or even if you run a big business and and then I listen to my son, I'll be very honest with you. Who says “Mummy, you can get all the apps you like, right? You can download all the philtres you like. But the truth is, what people want is message, truth, content.” Content is king, you know? And yes, you have to learn a few of the bits and pieces, but truthfully.

00:20:00 Cressida

I think what's very impressive about you is you are you are very present daily on your site.

00:20:06 Anne Marie

I am, yeah.

00:20:10 Cressida

And you share your knowledge. Which I think is invaluable. I think you're reaching out to like-minded women.

00:20:18 Anne Marie

Hopefully. I hope so, yeah.

00:20:10 Cressida

Yeah, I think so. I think that that you you've been around long enough that that we trust you.

00:20:31 Anne Marie

There's no point because we have returns policy. That's what I say to people and I say to the people who give us stuff and now we had it last week, we had a lovely lady with the most amazing taste and she gave us this stuff and she’s like I want this and I said you're not going to sell it. But I said fine, we'll try it and then she she came back to me after a week and said, you know, I'm really right. I want it sold. It's left my house. I don't want it anymore. So, you know we've got no interest in.

00:20:46 Cressida

It is hard letting go of stuff and that's actually another piece of advice that you give is, let it go.

00:20:50 Anne Marie

Yeah. Let go. Let go. Let it go. And I think also we all get bored and it's not a sad, you know, people have made shopping. I'm not one of those evangelical kind of like “No shopping” thing. I am an obsessive compulsive shopper and I love shopping, but I have learned to spend 90% of my time researching. So that's the one thing I would say to people that spend less time with the press by and and enjoy enjoy the journey. Like what I've taught people I think is, you know, like the old days, you would go with your friends into town. You spend hours wandering around the shops. And none of us do that because we’re too busy.

00:21:25 Cressida

Yeah, don't do it anymore. Yeah.

00:21:26 Anne Marie

And there's no stock, right? So even if you do go to shops, they don't have any stock. So what I say is treat virtual shopping like those old days, you know, go to different sites, toy with the item, put it in your basket. Leave it in your basket.

00:21:42 Cressida

Get one of one, get rid of one sorry.

00:21:44 Anne Marie

Get, one in one out! I am radical and also I mess it up all the time still. So I used to have I would say 50% of what I bought was rubbish. Now it's like maybe 5% and the difference is now I put it straight online and you know what happens when when I make mistakes when I don't measure. When I go shopping to places with other people, when I get influenced.

00:22:08 Cressida

Buying at 9:00 at night.

00:22:07 Anne Marie

Buying at 9 o’clock, that’s also OK. But like the other day, and I was looking at this beautiful influencer, who I love, she's amazing. But she was wearing a boiler suit. Now I have sold probably five of them and I should know better, but I could almost feel myself going, “Oh my God, I want a boiler suit. I want I want!” and then I I stop myself and I said no, I'm going to wait. Pressing pause button admiring someone I've learned to admire someone in something but realise it's not for me, right?

You know, finding a uniform and again, someone told me this and and she works at Vogue. And she said Anne Marie, one thing I would tell, you know, I said, what's your wisest thing? And she said to me and we dress like a man. She, didn't mean physically like a man, she said.

00:22:47 Cressida

No, I know what you mean though, yeah.

00:22:50 Anne Marie

She said, “your attitude to clothing should be like a man”. They buy one good suit, right? And then and the they and yeah, and then they have they don't buy. You don't see men in dungarees and and ra-ra skirts and paperback trousers. Why? Because all that stuff is ridiculously impossible for normal women to wear. It’s just they. It's crazy. Men don't do that. They buy beautiful shirts and a lovely cashmere, same and and

00:23:13 Cressida

Elegant, yes.

00:23:14 Anne Marie

Elegance! But then you can still have a bonkers, beautiful, you know, pair of shoes or a crazy coloured. So I don't mind, I don't think you have to be boring.

00:23:25 Cressida

But I think the point your point about reloved shoes really struck a note with me when you said “look on eBay for high-end luxury brands, because these shoes have only been worn once.”

00:23:27 Anne Marie

Yeah. Yes, that’s it! And it's the same as the shop you shop, that one shoe has been tried on 100 times. And sometimes, you know, they've been returned and they're, you know. But I do feel that simplicity and also having a uniform, which is not, I used to think, oh, that's so boring, but it makes my life easier. I know that boyfriend shirts look good on me. I've just. I never wore jeans. Now I've found the style of jeans that works for me.

You know, coats as well. I used to love all those long coats, but realistically, when I pull a trolley up and down the King's Road with all my returns, it doesn't work.

00:24:11 Cressida

Which you are still doing.

00:24:21 Anne Marie

I do, I still pull my trolley up and down the Kings Road because I want to know that my returns come back safely, so I'll send them to my house.

I wear bomber jackets because I can move and I feel young in them, so that's kind of really and also the other thing I would say to all of you is look at your wardrobe. Don't be we I was so frightened of it because it is scary because you're forced to look at things you've spent a lot of money on and it's it's irrelevant to how much money.

And this is what I say to all my sellers. You know, they go, oh, I spent. Though I said it doesn't matter. You know, you've spent that, it doesn't fit you. You don't like it, you're better off. And I think think of when you sell, sell 20 things right, sell 30 things.

And think of it as an amount of money that allows you to reinvest in one beautiful handbag or one lovely purse. I say to people now, you know, lovely key ring that you use every day. People don't think about the things they use every day, you know, sell all the stuff and reinvest in one beautiful piece of jewellery or a, you know, a lovely blazer and you'll feel better about yourself and opening up that wardrobe and seeing all that stuff is it's it's exhausting. I haven't got the energy. Haha!

00:25:21 Cressida

I was gonna ask you what the future is?

00:25:24 Anne Marie

I think the future is and I've again…

00:25:26 Cressida

For you. You.

00:25:34 Anne Marie

… the future, for me is bigger. You know, we're not bigger. It's like we were just talking about it. Like bigger office. We want to do. We want to have, we don't want to have a retail because we don't feel that that's, you know, eventually we'd love people to be able to make an appointment and come and see us because I think that's important for big purchases. But I think it's a lifestyle I want to have it so that we can sit on the sofa, talk to you guys. We want to be able to have like a table and sit down and say, you know, this is how big the handbag is compared to, you know, just having it more, less of a retail and more of this is how the item works and this is how it looks when you sit down, this is how it looks when you you hold the handbag, when you put, you know.

00:26:06 Cressida

So more one to one with your clients?

00:26:08 Anne Marie

Yeah, and and also making the virtual. At the moment our office is so small, so the virtual experience is quite cramped. We struggle with the more representative sizes now. We have done a huge push and thank the Lord. We're getting more representative size because our most common sizes are the the the biggest sellers are 16s and 14s. The hardest, it is impossible to sell a size 6. We have gone out there and hand-picked, 14s, 12s, 16s and now we're looking for 18s, but we want to be able to have a wider range. So what we're looking to now is we want to partner with brands. So where they have returns, where they have items which they haven't sold, we want to work with brands. So if there any brands out there who are listening?

You know we are looking because we market it well and also it's I don't understand brands who do fire sales on their website when you expect someone to spend £300 on a dress when you're selling it for 70, no one's gonna do it. So we're saying to them give it to us.

We will sell it for you, and then whoever's buying new is only seeing the higher value at eye. So it's trying to partner with brands to bring in stock, which allows them to keep their, their site for their new stock.

00:27:21 Cressida

And I also know that you are also very supportive of your charity? Local charity shops, Red Cross.

00:27:27 Anne Marie

Yes. We worked, you know, with the all of the charity shops, they struggle and we we give them like we're the biggest supplier to Trinity Hospice to the Samaritans. All of those they rely on us and we give them regular stock. Our sellers are happy because they don't have to go to this. We pick it all up. So. You know, we have an online form. It's easy. We pick up from your house.

You know, or if you're outside London, we send you an envelope so you don't do anything. So it's easy, you know, it's easy peasy. This is our latest thing. So we're going to do, take a stall in Portobello.

00:28:03 Cressida

That's exciting.

00:28:03 Anne Marie

Once a month, and to do it for a charity, so anything we can’t sell, we're going to do that because we want to get out and about. We're a bit bored being inside. The weather's getting better and someone said to us that, you know, you you you can apply for the stall. And then we're going to do uh sales. So all of the proceeds of the items, then we'll be able to go to whatever charity because we need to. We have to do that. We have to give back.

00:28:26 Cressida

Well, thank you very much. It's been lovely. Well, thank you so much.

00:28:27 Anne Marie

You're welcome. Please have me back anytime. I'm pleased and honestly look pre-loved first and really, really important as well, trust yourself. You know you are, you know what suits you. Don't listen to anyone else.

And also clear out and spend 80% of your time, enjoy your purchasing journey. We're too fast. Take a step back. Enjoy. Take a cup of tea, glass of wine and just peruse the websites. Enjoy it and ask questions so much.

00:28:43 Cressida

Good advice. Thank so you much. Take care.