Just a year and a half after launching vegan and sustainable skincare brand, Wild & Wood, founders Hollie Sharpin and Lorna Hirst, have opened their first ever physical shop in Featherstone, Wakefield.
Step away from the hustle and bustle of the busy high street, through the doors of the shop and you’re met with an instant sense of tranquility.
The team at Wild & Wood wanted to offer customers an immersive shopping experience and that they have done as rainforest sounds wash over customers ears whilst relaxing aromas fill the air.
With the ‘shop local’ movement gaining more and more momentum, shoppers are increasingly inclined to want to get to know the people behind the brands that they purchase from, which is why this was the perfect time for Wild & Wood to open their first shop.
With a huge Instagram following of 58.2k, Hollie and Lorna have always strived to show their followers the team behind the brand.
They’ve used social media to get to know their followers and to show them their own morals and motives, in the hope that customers will know that when purchasing from Wild & Wood, they’re shopping with a brand that they can trust.
Because of this close knit web of followers that the brand has created, the support for the new shop has been incredible.
Hollie said, “We didn’t always plan on having our own shop, when the pandemic hit we were put off completely. But then we started getting messages on social media saying, we live locally, can we come collect from you. So we thought why not, we can actually meet our customers and we can give them the whole Wild & Wood experience.”
Lorna added, “The strangest thing for us is that people come in, they already know our names, they know our story and they know our family. And that’s what we used our social media to do, to create a brand that is an extension of our family. We really get a sense of community from our followers so why wouldn’t we want to take that online community and give it a physical meeting space.”
One happy shopper, Keri Cawthraw, from Featherstone, told us, “It’s beautiful here, it’s so calm and relaxing, it smells delicious when you walk in, and all of the staff are so welcoming. I can’t wait to get to use the products I’ve bought. I’m going home to use them right now and I’ll definitely be back in the future.”
If you’ve heard of Wild & Wood before you will know that their products are a labour of love. From their oat bags to their bath salts each product is hand mixed by a member of the team themselves.
This time consuming process has meant that, as busy mums, both Hollie and Lorna have had to incorporate their children into Wild & Woods journey.
Lorna said, “A year and a half ago we were stay at home mums and now we don’t have the time to stay in and wash the pots or put a load of washing on anymore. You’ll find us mixing products and serving customers with our babies strapped to our backs.”
With the brand being so family focused they want to stress to shoppers that they are a child friendly shop, in fact the pair plan on turning a corner of the shop into a rainforest themed creche for their own children.
Hollie said, “We think seeing their mums work hard is massively important. When we first started up, my son Arthur who was just 6 months old was always coming to work with us. So they’re used to it now and they will grow up knowing that mums work hard and that they can juggle both having kids and a successful business.”
The child friendly shop, which the pair have hopes to be the first of many, is situated on Featherstone high street and open Tuesday-Saturday each week where the close knit team of Wild & Wood will be on hand to offer an immersive shopping experience.
