The new owners of a Market Drayton card and gift shop have promised to bring the “wow factor” back to the town centre.
Prab Singh and Sharan Kaur celebrated their first three months of running Hallmark Cards in Cheshire Street by holding a Christmas raffle drawn by town mayor Councillor Roger Smith.
The couple already run a card shop in the West Midlands but wanted to trade in a more “rural setting” and they grabbed the chance to take over Hallmark Cards from Martin Jones who ran it for around 10 years.
Prab said: “We’re experienced businesspeople and we’ve had our shop in Wednesbury for three years, but we were looking to have a second shop in a more rural setting.
“We wanted to come to Market Drayton because it’s a positive town and everyone talks about it.
“A lot of time and investment has gone into the shop over the last three months and the raffle was really a way of saying thank you to the townspeople who have supported us.”
Prab and Sharan have introduced a new range of fragranced candles, cuddly toys, wedding and anniversary gifts.
The couple hope to launch a loyalty card scheme early next year to reward customers who support the shop with discounts.
Prab said: “People have been very, very good, they’ve liked the new lease of life we’ve given to the shop and we’ve had no negative comments.
“We want Hallmark Cards to become a one-stop quality card and gift shop and what drives us is people coming in and saying ‘wow, what’s happened here?’
“People have said ‘thank goodness the shop has stayed open as a card shop’ and they think our range of cards and gifts is very good.
“We want to bring the wow factor back into Market Drayton and I think we’re getting there.”
By Winston Brown