Mother and daughter step up and open business in Prestatyn after refusing to let Covid destroy their dream

Emma Williams, 33, and Susan Thorn, 59, of Rhyl, opened Maple Bay Boutique to customers earlier this month. The shop, which stocks affordable clothes, handbags, accessories and homeware, is located on Lon Alwen, off High Street.

Emma, who lives in Rhuddlan, said: "Me and my mum have always shared clothes and shoes, we have a very close bond. We work well together and we give our customers confidence because they can see our products on different ages. Age should not stop you from wearing what you love. We love buying our stock together and getting two different tastes into the shop.

"We both absolutely love Autumn, but we are Christmas mad.

"We both also love to garden, and we’re very crafty with sewing and yarn work."

Emma and Sue previously had a stand in the Bayview Shopping Centre in Colwyn Bay.

"We were there for six years," Emma added.

Susan Thorne and daughter Emma Williams. Picture: Gerry Frobisher

"This business has been a long term goal. We had a massive customer base there [in Colwyn Bay] but we only had a little stand in the middle of the shopping centre. It was outside Iceland.

"When Covid hit, and we had to close, it was incredibly hard to recover from it. We did not receive all the grants from the government because of the type of business we were, so we had to walk away, it was absolutely devastating. We started from scratch and decided to take our shop online, and so for the past year we have built our website, and started selling to people around the UK.

"There is only one problem with being online and that’s the lack of face to face interaction with customers. We absolutely adore being able to give tips and tricks to people, we love to make them feel confident and comfortable and that’s difficult over a computer screen.

Maple Bay cupcake! Picture: Gerry Frobisher

"Don’t get me wrong, we love our new 'Maple Leaves' (our online customers) but we needed to spread our wings again. The boutique and online store complement each other beautifully now."

The boutique sells ladies clothing. Sizes can range from eight to 32.

Emma said: " We also sell homeware, gifts, soaps, scarves, handbags and other trinkets. Our collection is forever growing.

"Our boutique is small and cosy. We’ve always loved shops where you go inside and your just like 'wow - I’m definitely going to find something I want in here, there’s loads of goodies to look at', so that was our goal and I think we got there."

Emma and Sue have received a visit off cllr Sharon Frobisher, mayor of Prestatyn and Meliden.

Emma said: "She welcomed us to the community. She was so lovely and warm towards us, even helped us to acquire a cake stand from Meliden Golf Club for our complimentary cupcakes

"Our customers and residents have been amazing. We have sold so much that we had to go for new stock in our first week. Also we’ve had our customers from Colwyn Bay come over which is great for Prestatyn. They didn’t know how lovely it was.

"We are so proud to be a part of such a beautiful and thriving community. We always say everything happens for a reason and we believe Prestatyn was waiting for us."

Cllr Frobisher said: "We wish Emma and Susan all the best in the future. It is very encouraging to see new businesses coming to Prestatyn. Prestatyn offers some of the best quality of private retailers in North Wales and I would like to encourage more new businesses to consider opening on our High Street.

"It's great news that Prestatyn High Street is an attractive destination for new businesses. Hopefully all new outlets will complement existing shops.

"There is certainly an upbeat feel around the town."

For the online store, visit www.maplebay.co.uk