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Luxury designer resale business, Love Luxe, specialises in buying and selling authenticated luxury shoes, accessories and bags in new or nearly new condition.
The company was founded by Charlotte Jones in 2016 as a hobby business. However, only a year later, it was making enough money for Charlotte to go fully self-employed.
She initially sold on auction and other designer retailer sites but the high commission percentages of around 30-40% led to her cutting out the middleman and creating her own website. It was a great decision for the business and meant that her customers could both benefit from a more personalised service and know that they were buying designer goods at the best possible price.
Selling online, Charlotte initially ran the company from home. However, she soon began running out of space in her living room. When more people started requesting to view products in person, she realised it was time to find new premises.
Checking out various locations around Barnsley, she only called into The Business Village on the off chance while driving past. However, when shown the space in the new building, Charlotte realised that she’d happened upon the perfect location.
In January 2021, Charlotte moved into a ground floor office space and workshop with glass doors, giving a great professional frontage. Still selling from the website, she also added an appointment only service for people to come and view products.
“The new space means that I can now offer a personalised shopping experience for my customers. Many products are not on display but, when people book an appointment, I can get everything out in their size and provide a luxury shopping experience with a glass of Prosecco.”
As the only luxury resale business offering shoes, accessories and bags in Yorkshire, customers will travel long distances just to visit the showroom. Charlotte describes the location of The Business Village, just off the motorway, as “brilliant” and says the free parking is a bonus for her customers.
Having customers shop in person has allowed Charlotte to expand her business and take on an employee, which she would never have been able to do when working from home. She’s also much happier with the professional backdrop her website and social media images now have.
An unexpected benefit from being in The Business Village has been discovering new customers in the many other tenant businesses. Some just buy products from her, but others also bring products for her to sell, giving her new sources of stock.
She’s also come across a physio working just a few offices away and has recently spoken to a product photographer about possible work in the future.
“Making new connections at The Business Village has been brilliant. Just meeting and chatting with people in passing has led to some useful collaborations.”
The short-term goals for Love Luxe are to keep increasing the number of people shopping in-person and to develop events which will offer discounts for shoppers. Longer term, Charlotte is already thinking about expansion at The Business Village and has her eye on two workshop spaces!
