The sweet smell of success has enabled a Cramlington mother and daughter duo to move their business into a brand new facility with warehousing and office space creating record-breaking sales all over the UK of their unique fragrance products.
Prior to forming NorthburN, Wendy Gray originally ran a beauty business and decided to grow the business by introducing luxury scented candles to sell to her clients. Her products were so well received that in 2014 her daughter Laura, who worked as a fashion stylist joined the business and the pair worked together from home to develop new fragrances for their growing customer base. The Brand creates all of its own fragrance blends and then produces a range of products including Eau De Parfum, Home fragrance and bath bombs.
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Sadly, Wendy was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2014 but with the help of Laura, the business continued to grow. On Wendy’s last day of cancer treatment, they found a workshop unit and moved from the kitchen to their first premises. With demand for their products rapidly outgrowing supply, a larger unit was found and in 2020 they opened their first retail boutique in Whitley Bay.
The shop was badly affected by COVID restrictions and only physically opened for five months of the year. In true fighting style and despite a second cancer diagnosis and ongoing illness, Wendy and Laura restructured the business and focused their efforts on online sales and offering free local home deliveries. The popularity of the brand’s products bloomed and they have achieved a number of beauty awards based on their quality and have just received a Prestige award for Best Home Fragrance Retailer for North of England 20/21.
“Our online work went through the roof and we outgrew our workspace,” said Wendy. “we had taken on three additional staff and knew we would have to expand further but finding the right business premises was a real issue as we needed a workshop, office space and warehousing facilities.”
Wendy and Laura discovered b.Village – a unique concept incorporating office and warehousing space. b.village Cramlington is the first in a network of business communities were totally flexible, energy-efficient, low start-up cost workspace comes packaged with an onsite gym, recreation, catering and conference facilities.
“b.Village has totally helped our business to expand,” said Wendy.” Our facilities are excellent including ultra-fast broadband and there is a hub where we can meet clients once the COVID restrictions are lifted.”
b.village Estate Manager, Lindsey Dunn was delighted to welcome Wendy and her team.
“When we were planning b.village, we came across a lot of businesses like NorthburN that needed warehousing as well as a nice office to work from. Normally, you get one or the other and she has settled in immediately.”
