Shop renovations… I was daunted at first. I’m confident in my ability to choose a paint, or a tile. I’m a dab hand at buying too many cushions, and you can never have too many pictures in the ‘to frame’ pile.

We’re opening a shop. Yes, that’s right, Harriet and Rose, the online-only gifting website founded in Jersey in 2019 is moving to bricks and mortar, and therefore no longer online-only. We’re going to the High Street… the very busy central High Street of St Helier. You’ll soon find us at 71 King Street.

In 2021 being an Influencer is a bone fide career. As someone who has worked in retail, hospitality and run their own business since 2005, this isn’t really a new career… it’s just that it used to be called marketing. The difference? In theory, anyone can become an influencer, and make good money from it, just by having a good instagram following and affiliate links.

There are two types of people in this world… the organised gift givers, and the disorganised ones. I - believe it or not (and the irony is not lost on me) - fall firmly into the latter. Which is actually one of the reasons why I founded Harriet and Rose.

We launched almost two years ago, and in that time we’ve always said that we would focus on Jersey first and foremost. This has not changed! We were founded in, and are based in Jersey, to provide a gifting service that we couldn’t find on island.

When I first launched Harriet and Rose, almost two years ago now (and my, has that time gone both quickly and slowly all at once), I had a plan. It was a good plan, and it was one that I’d spent the best part of a year honing and refining (not to mention designing, and writing copy for), but I always knew that day one of the website would be just the beginning.

Business ownership is not always an easy thing, especially when you are a small one, and you as the owner have to become master of all the business aspects.

Hampers. Care packages. What’s the difference?

We were thinking about this long and hard the other day (our head is an interesting place to be sometimes!), and it occurred to us that so often hampers and care packages are used interchangeably.

Ah the half term juggle. It’s a tangible thing. The fact that I could be out on deliveries clearing this afternoon for admin and a dog walk, but instead I’m sat here doing admin (and finding more admin that I should have done) whilst writing a blog post (aka procrastinating), whilst the feral - in much need of a walk - dog pounces on, and consumes anything that comes out of the printer. It’s been a busy week.

Retail can sometimes have a bit of a bad reputation. As someone who’s worked in it from the age of 15 (yes, yes I count a Saturday job in Beckenham Library as retail) as well as hospitality, I remember saying that I’d never consider any other career…

Living in Jersey, we get it. When the sun is shining, the last thing you want to be doing is dashing to the shops to get a gift.

Valentine’s Day gifts delivered in Jersey, Channel Islands.

Do you know what? Yesterday, for the first time in a really long time, I watched the news and felt something unexpected. I felt hope.

Having watched Death to 2020 on Netflix on New Years’ Eve (and I’d wholeheartedly recommend it, for Hugh Grant alone), I’d somehow forgotten about this time last year.