We've always had a little shop attached to the workshop - except in the mad few years when everyone in the world wanted Mackintosh Jewellery and we squeezed 14 workers into the place. But it means we can see what people like, make special pieces just for the shop, sell directly to the customer, and provide a shelter for visitors in the rain.
It does tend to expand and contract, but at the moment it is just a nice size and as well as lots of our own product we buy goods from all over. Apart from kilt pins, we make lots of jewellery , particularly gold Celtic rings, and a huge range of Mackintosh designs. We have other jewellery as well - at all sorts of prices - and also pewterware , plaques, and really anything else nice that takes our fancy. And it mustn't be too big - it's a pretty small shop. We do tend to chop and change so no-one knows what's going to be in next, which is nice for the people who come back year after year.
All our bench-workers are trained to leap up and serve as reqired , and because they actually make jewellery few questions in that line defeat them. We do commission work, repairs, size rings on the spot (try having all the patterns in the range in all the sizes….) and make a lot of wedding rings.
The shop is open six days in the week in summer, and people do like coming in and seeing us slaving away at the bench, but in winter we draw the line and treat ourselves to Saturdays off. As we have holiday cottages as well, summer Saturdays can be a bit frenzied between polishing furniture and polishing rings, so we do enjoy our winter break.