Knitting enthusiast Fiona Bishop has followed her dream and taken the entrepreneurial plunge of buying a shop and starting her own business. Fab Fabrics in Ystrad Mynach sells fabric, wool, haberdashery, zips, ribbon, buttons, lace, braids, craft items curtains, net curtains and more.
The haberdashery shop will be holding a special event on Saturday the 1st of April between 9.30am and 3pm to celebrate Fiona’s first official working day in the shop. There will be a selection of tea, coffee and Welsh cakes.
Fiona decided on Welsh cakes in memory of her nan who passed away over a year ago.
“My nan taught me how to knit when I was very young. She would have loved to be there with us celebrating this new adventure. As she can’t be with us, my father and I are planning to make the Welsh Cakes the night before on her bake stone.”
When redundancies were announced at Fiona’s current employment just after Christmas, Fiona made an expression of interest for voluntary redundancy.
“I have always been creative and knit, crochet, sew and do counted cross stich. I found out the shop was for sale, and called in to take a look. The idea of running a fabric and haberdashery shop seemed perfect. The vibe in the shop and the potential was so strong.”
Fiona put in an offer straight away, and bought the shop the following week. She didn’t get voluntary redundancy in the end, however this had not dulled her enthusiasm in any way.
A member of the Welsh ICE 5-9 Club, Fiona
“The course was outstanding. Not only did I learn a lot about business, and also myself. The best thing I learnt was collaboration is key. I was very fortunate to be with an amazing bunch of people who have encouraged, supported and helped me along this journey. When I started the course, I felt like a didn’t really have a business in mind, and I wasn’t going to run my own business I was just dabbling. The others have all done really well, and I am so proud of them. We meet up every month, and I can’t wait to talk over my new venture. If things go the way they always do, there will be loads of support and encouragement all round. I feel the 5-9 course, opened my mind to new possibilities and prepared me for this brand new step in my life.”
Looking forward, fluent Welsh speaker Fiona plans to supply all her services in Welsh and will be expanding and running a range of courses throughout the year.
“There is so much creative talent in and around our valley. We aim to encourage and help this flourish as much as possible.”
You can follow Fab Fabrics on Facebook here for more information about the event or email Fiona at [email protected]. The address is below. Good luck, Fiona!
21 Penallta Road,
Ystrad Mynach,
Hengoed
Caerphilly
CF82 7AP
