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For 25 years, Love & Piste has been a much-loved destination for skiwear, evolving from humble beginnings at a kitchen table into a thriving year-round store with a coffee shop, ski gear, active wear and cycling kit, and a loyal community of customers. Now run by Julie Holland, the shop has built a reputation for warm service, carefully selected collections, and a personal touch that makes it stand out in today’s challenging retail climate.
We caught up with Julie to hear more about the journey, her team, and what makes Love and Piste unique.
Can you tell us a bit about your store and how it all started?
Love & Piste was created 25 years ago and began life renting skiwear from a kitchen table, as the original owner realised there was a need, finding it difficult herself to get skiwear for her children.
Seeing a need for more space and the advent of selling skiwear (instead of renting) for the whole family, a small shop was created in a converted barn on her farm, opening during the winter period only from October - April. The shop soon became a ‘go to’ for skiwear at a time before the boom of selling online!
Fast forward 25 years, the shop has seen many changes over this period, including a change of ownership to myself (having worked in the original shop for many years) and 8 years ago we moved the shop to a new location in a lovely rural setting, adding a coffee shop with free parking, which has now become a destination in itself, as well as providing refreshments for our visiting retail customers. Many of our coffee shop customers who visit then become ski customers.
We also have a website where we showcase the shop (and coffee shop) and sell a significant amount of skiwear online, although the majority of our sales still come from the shop itself and customers can keep up to date by following us on Facebook and Instagram.
The shop is now open all year round, with the summer months being as much about the coffee shop and the range of cycling wear for our regular cyclists who call in for coffee and cake, alongside our skiwear, which is always on sale when out of season. (You’d be surprised how many people call in to shop for skiwear during the hottest months of the year!)
How has Love and Piste adapted to the challenges of the retail landscape over the years?
We are proud of how we have adapted over the years to an ever changing retail marketplace, surviving a pandemic and the challenges that retail has and continues to have as more and more shops are closing. We could be considered quite unique as we don’t sell technical equipment, ie skis and ski boots, only clothing, helmets, goggles and accessories, but this seems to work for us.
Tell us about your team for this season. Who’s involved in running the shop and café?
We are a small team. I have one assistant who works during the ski season only, assisting with sales, overseeing and choosing the new skiwear collections with myself and sorting out our orders online. We find that our weekends are the busiest times so we gear ourselves up ready for this, adjusting opening hours and staff availability to suit. There are two other members of the team who mainly work on the coffee shop side of things, but can help out during busy times in the retail shop when needed. This adaptability helps a small business, as we pull together as a team.
How do you choose which products and collections to stock each season?
When selecting skiwear we will visit Slide & OTS Winter trade show in January each year to view and select the new ranges offered from our suppliers and take a look at what else is in the marketplace. It is a great place to visit as we have formed good relationships with all our suppliers and we also use the opportunity to meet and chat with other like minded retailers, as well as searching for new trends and products in the marketplace.
Every ski season, we each select a particular item of clothing that will become a ‘staff favourite’ and we always choose a suitable midlayer that we wear in the shop when working, as we find that customers like to see the clothing being worn and often customers will buy what we are wearing!
You recently celebrated 25 years in business — congratulations! How did you mark the occasion?
We held an event at our shop to mark the milestone which was a huge success with our customers, both past and present, with new customers being attracted by our publicity on social media. We offered a prize draw with great prizes provided by our suppliers, as well as giveaways, coffee and cake and of course a few glasses of fizz.
We are now looking forward to the next 25 years!
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