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One of the latest retailers to 'brave it' on the high street is a petite boutique where, "...eco chic and coastal living meet," and whose owner has local 'Ted Talk' ambitions.
Times are tough for the high-street. We've just come out of a pandemic, the cost of living is going up and economic uncertainty seems to stalk small businesses wherever they go. However, despite this, there a few fresh faces on the high street braving all, and a few places making some exciting changes.
Each day this week, Express will be profiling those who are braving it all. Today, we chat to Wild Atlantique...
One of King Street's newest residents, Wild Atlantique, is run by Karen Mackay, originally from the United States, who has been in Jersey for a little over a year and opened her shop in April.
She has worked as an interior designer in both the United States and in Ireland and has now moved into the heritage listed flat just above her shop, which also serves as an open house once a month.
Pictured: Karen Mackay outside Wild Atlantique
Her aim was to bring affordable and sustainable interior design to the island. She has her own Atelier above her shop and offers interior design consultation on request. She also offers custom made furniture.
The shop itself offers a range of products, all of which are sustainable and eco-friendly.
The clothes are all sourced from ethical garment manufacturers, there are sunglasses made from recycled trawl nets, rugs woven by small-scale cottage industries, candles made from recycled oyster shells and eco soy wax, dog leads made of hemp, books on sustainable design, blankets woven by hand from recycled cotton and much more.
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WATCH: Libby from Wild Atlantique talks about their new Dog Wild range.
There are also a number of products from Jersey sources. There is Jersey sea salt, choclate provided by local chocolatier chocadyllic as well as a selection of prints from local Jersey artists and photographers. Furthermore, there are a number of what Karen terms "unique curiosities" on offer, all of which are fun nautical-themed art pieces, all made and designed by local artists.
This description does not really scratch the surface of all that is available at Wild Atlantique, but Karen is resolute that everything on offer in the shop is sustainable, eco-friendly and, of course, inspired by life on the coast. She is trying to make shopping at Wild Atlantique as easy as possible, pushing for what she termed “frictionless retail”; offering a click and collect service and a delivery service.
She is slowly getting to know the people of Jersey and is doing her best to understand what it is they are looking for and engage with the community. She's set up a community email, and is even looking to try and organise Ted Talks on the island. Specifically, she seems determined to bring "serious adventurer" Damien Browne over to Jersey, to talk about his epic 112-day solo-sea crossing from New York to Galway.
Karen is nothing but confident about the business at the present time.
When asked about the challenges of the current climate, she breezily laughed back: "Oh my God, this isn't tough at all!" For her, nothing can be anywhere near as bad as the covid pandemic.
So far, it seems her biggest challenge is getting to grips with social media - a daunting challenge for the best of us.
To find out more, you can visit the Wild Atlantique website HERE.
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