Emma, Andy and their children, Sam, 5, and Toby, who is just nine months old, are newcomers to Kirkby Stephen. From Lancashire they, like many before them, loved the area and found a big farmhouse in Brough Sowerby to move to.

The next step was finding a business to take on, and they saw the potential in what was the toyshop building for selling household goods.

They noticed there weren’t too many places in town to find all those bits and pieces at reasonable prices and saw the venture as having the added bonus of being useful to the community, not just for visitors.

Emma smiles when she says that one of their most popular items are mothballs. She says customers tell her they have been difficult to find in recent years,  and they’re delighted to see them on her shelves.

Keeping Kirkby blooming

You might think that after their opening day at the end of April it did nothing but rain for months, but watering cans were  selling fast! 

Perhaps it’s to do with all the beautiful hanging baskets, tubs and window boxes that were appearing in the town for Cumbria and Britain in Bloom.

nd now that Sayers’ electricals shop has closed, the Maquires have spotted the gap in the market and picked up some of their  specialist bulbs, fluorescent tubes, wires and cables.

Other more unusual stock includes ipod speakers, digital memory cards... and those mothballs…

The Past

Maguire & Sons replaces the toyshop, before that the Drover’s Café and before that Louise Davis gave us a greengrocers.

I remember Romy and Bernard Bowman’s shop with beautiful ornaments in the front and decorating items, paints and paper etc. at the back. That is the full extent of my memory, can you remember back any further and let us all know the details,  there will be many people that will be interested?