Pad
The Background to Pad...
BACKGROUND OF DAVID AND DARREN, OWNERS OF PAD...
Before opening Pad we both had successful careers within sales, marketing and business development for several major UK companies, although not related to the homeware/gift sector. On a personal level, we have, over the past few years, refurbished several houses within the Chorlton area and interior design is a passion of ours. We had planned for several years to eventually run our own business and having refurbished the houses the idea of Pad started to evolve mainly because we often struggled to find the finishing touches when we were dressing the properties. We were lucky as at the time we were both travelling much of the time with work so would pick up some great finds on our travels – this led us to thinking why not open a shop which sells a selection of gorgeous bits and bobs – all those little finishing touches which we had been picking up on our travels. The idea just evolved from there to include not only funky homeware but a selection of gifts and some fab kids stuff, such as the traditional hand painted wooden toys and games.
THE PASSION BEHIND PAD...
We spend a lot of time searching for new products and keeping an eye on current trends, something we really enjoy – we love it when we find new products and are genuinely really excited about them. Many of our products are limited editions or one offs so when they are gone they really are gone, which means the shop often looks quite different which we love as it always looks fresh and exciting.
THE HISTORY OF PAD...
The idea just developed slowly during the time we were refurbishing our last couple of houses. We wanted the business to be local, after so much travelling with work over recent years we were determined we wanted to be able to walk to work! Many people thought we were mad giving up our company cars, but I (Darren) can honestly say the day I gave back my company car, laptop and mobile phone was truly a great day for me!
We looked at several properties before deciding on Manchester Rd. We both believed in the area. It is certainly a part of Chorlton on the up – we have Unicorn Grocery directly opposite, the ever popular Barbakan Delicatessen is close by, as is the lovely Wild at Heart organic deli/coffee shop and we share our row of shops with the award winning Blossom Florist and Arkadash fair trade clothing boutique, so it really is a great shopping destination.
PAD PLANS...
We aim to continue to introduce new and exciting ranges to the shop and have some great ideas for our spring and summer ranges including some stunning bits and bobs for gardens – or ‘yardens’ in our case! We are also currently on the lookout for shop number two which will definitely be in the South Manchester area – watch this space!
PAD'S UNIQUE FEATURES...
We try our very best to find suppliers that don’t currently stock other shops in the Manchester area and feedback so far has been really positive with people really enjoying the fact that they haven’t seen many of our products before.
We dedicate much of the wall space to the many talented local artists, giving them the chance to exhibit (and hopefully sell) their latest works, usually for an 8 week period, so our artwork really is ever changing!
We also stock products from several London based design teams such as mirrors, candelabras, vases etc – all of which are seriously stylish home accessories.
AN INTERESTING PAD ASIDE...
In December ’07 we were surprised, delighted and immensely proud to be recognised in the ‘Guardian’s Ultimate Guide to the UK’s Best Independent Shops’ in their gift shop sector – the only Manchester based shop to feature within the sector. We certainly didn’t expect it, being only nine months old at the time, but we are absolutely chuffed to bits!
David & Darren, Pad
