Welcome to Gladrags, I’m Kelly, and here is a little bit about how my little business began. I’m a 40 plus mum of 2, wife, and a lover of clothes! I didn’t start my working life in anything to do with clothes or fashion, I am in fact a qualified staff nurse, but when my 2nd child was born in 2005 it became apparent that due to a recurring back problem and increasing family commitments that I could no longer continue in my role as a nurse. For a few years I enjoyed working part time for my parent’s family business and being at home with my children until 2011 saw me getting a bit bored!
I began selling clothes and accessories via party plan in customers houses, and that’s where ‘handbags and gladrags by Kelly’ was born, some of my party plan hosts and customers are still shopping with me to this day, THANK YOU! My Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings consisted of me filling my car to bursting with all my lovely stock and selling it at ‘handbag parties’ week in week out. The word spread, my business was growing, and customers began wanting to shop with me outside of these parties, and this is where the ‘shop in the garage’ began. My lovely hubby gave up his ‘man cave’ in our converted garage at home to make way for my little shop. This is probably where most of my customers found me, via my Facebook and Instagram pages and word of mouth. Fast forward a few years and my little shop in the garage had taken off, the street was like a car park most Saturdays (Big shout out and thankyou to my understanding neighbours) the whole house was a stock room. I needed more space. I needed a ‘proper shop’. So, in 2020 I took the plunge and signed for the shop in Barwick in Elmet, Leeds 15. It opened its doors on Saturday 15th of February 2020, what a day that was, the shop was packed out all day. It was 5 weeks before the first Covid lockdown, what a year to open a shop! But thanks to my amazing customers… I’m still here. I absolutely love my job, my shop and all my supportive and loyal customers, lots of which I now have the pleasure to call great friends too, and can’t wait to see what the future holds for ‘Gladrags’
