We Love Mums! Here are some of our favourite ideas for this Mother’s Day- don’t forget it’s on Sunday 20th March! If you like the look of our newsletter and would like one to conveniently arrive in your inbox once a month, please do sign up by entering your email address into the box at the left hand side of this screen. We promise to only ever email you regarding products and special offers which we find truly exciting!
We think Mums are so great we decided to dedicate a whole window display to them! Don’t forget Mother’s Day, Sunday 14th March…..
Click on the thumbnails below to view full size
Our Valentines theme this year is traditionally British with Union Jack hearts, cushions and doormats. Our popular hanging heart tealight holders make a thoughtful and lasting gift for the home or garden. We have a beautiful selection of Valentine’s cards in store, with more heart and LOVE themed gifts arriving in store this week. Celebrate love in all it’s forms this Valentine’s day……..
We are currently recruiting for a management position at our Church Road store in Hove- this is an exciting new opportunity for to become part of our team here at Velvet! Please click on the link to the document below for further details, we would like all applications to hand in a cover letter with their CV relating to; your expectations of the role, your responsibilities, your experience and of becoming part of the Velvet team! If you have any questions please contact a member of our team on 01273 326007.
click on the following link for details of the management vacancy: velvet-management-vacancy.docx
Our current furniture promotion, valid in-store until 31st January 2010:
As Christmas approaches our window displays are starting to get festive! This Christmas we have a great range of sophisticated decorations and fun and thoughtful gifts, this window features knee high boots, traditional furniture, cosy winter accessories and cushions and hot water bottles galore!
If you love our website and our stores why not stay up to date with all things Velvet and sign up for our monthly e-newsletter, featuring new product ranges and special offers to spend in store and online! Here is a preview of our October newsletter- just enter your email address into the box to the left on this screen to receive our November news…..
Our 2nd autumn window display features a traditional autumnal woodland feel with beautifully finished oak furniture, red leather upholstered armchairs and beaded lampshades, accessorised with shabby chic white painted frames and rich red and cream floral displays. Warm scarves, boots, jackets and layered knitwear complete the 2nd Velvet autumn style story .
This year we showcased 3 of our top autumn/winter 09 looks at the Unique Brighton fashion show, held in the popular South Laines area of Brighton on Sunday 6th Sept, for information about the clothing and accessories featured in these photos or to place an order please call us on 01273 326007. Click on the thumbnails below for the full sized image.
We have some great new autumn clothes and shoes in our stores, with some gorgeous coats and jackets ready for the cooler weather! A huge range of new season scarves have also arrived at Velvet, perfect for that in-between weather in September.
The Velvet summer sale is now on at both of our stores, with bikinis, kaftans, sandals and summer fashion at fantastic prices! Come in and pick up some purse-friendly summer bargains while the weather’s still great!
George and Karen worked their merchandising magic this week creating lush new table displays for our Brighton store.
(click thumbnails to see full size images!)
This is the third of our fabulous summer window displays, featuring our beautiful pink garden parasol, only £22!
Velvet are proudly supporting the Lily foundation for Mitochondrial Disease, a devastating genetic condition which sadly is currently incurable. The Lily Foundation sponsors work for research into Mitochondrial Disease and other metabolic disorders, hopefully through their support a cure will one day be developed.
To find out more about Mitochondrial disease and what you can do to help support the Lily Foundation visit www.thelilyfoundation.org.uk
Velvet are donating a hamper of goodies worth over £55 to the Lily Foundation for a fundraiser on 7th June 2009, and would like to wish everyone at the foundation the best of luck in raising support for their cause.
Pastel shades and feminine furnishings, a playful but sophisticated take on shabby chic (click on thumbnails to enlarge)
This year we’ve been working on expanding our Church Road store in Hove by opening a second floor and including our entire product range. Our Hove Velvet is now our first lifestyle boutique-department-store, featuring everything from greetings cards to dresses, shoes and accessories, gifts, lighting and furniture. Here is a sneak peek at some new photos of the store- to be updated shortly!
The first of our great summer window displays, filled with summer brights and bold prints to start the season!
(click on thumbnails to enlarge)
To coincide with our featured products this month we created a Union Jack window display to match, photos below (click thumbnails to view larger versions.
Here at Velvet we’ve been working on a bit of column re-design for Latest Homes Magazine (local to Brighton and Hove), don’t forget to check out the new style column fortnightly! For those of you outside of Brighton and Hove you can also view the column online by clicking here.
Dear Friends and Velveteens,
I just wanted to thank all those involved for helping us raise loads of cash for Comic Relief.
We raised £770 on Friday from street/shop collecting from customers, staff and generous neighbours (Badger gave us £100!), combined with 10% of all our sales in Hove and Brighton (luckily it was a very busy day!).
Plus the staff on that day collectively spent £120 on t shirts.
So a big thank you especially to those gave money and raised money on the day … Karen, Adam, Colette, Moise, Gemma, Misha, Vicky, Helen, Menna, Lou, George R, George D and Iris.
It has made me very proud to send of that cheque today – so well done and thank you team!
Love Emma
(click on the thumbnail for larger versions)
On Friday 13 March all the team at Velvet will be celebrating Red Nose Day 2009 to raise buckets of cash for Comic Relief!
Join us at 27 Bond Street, Brighton and 66-68 Church Road, Hove to see the whole team looking funny for money.
Every member of staff has purchased an iconic Stella McCartney Red Nose Day t-shirt and will be strutting their stuff around our stores in these and Comic Relief Red Noses! Red lipstick and nail varnish will complete the look!
Staff will be encouraging customers to empty their pockets, purses and wallets to donate their small change to Red Nose Day.
Velvet will also be donating 10% from every purchase made on the day to Comic Relief.
Every penny they raise will go to Comic Relief to help transform lives across Africa and the UK.
For more information or photos (available from 15/3/09) contact Menna or Emma: info@velvetstore.co.uk, 01273 326007
As mentioned earlier this year, our renovation work at Church Road is complete. We now have a beautiful clothes and shoes ’boutique’ section at the back of our ground floor, complete with stunning new changing rooms.
And down stairs has been transformed from a dingy dark stockroom into a gorgeous new basement full of furniture, lighting and mirrors. Be sure to come and visit us, we’d love to welcome you (but here’s some pictures for those of you who can’t! Click Thumbnail to enlarge…)
Well, not quite a boom, but we are expecting two Velvet babies this Summer!
Directors Nick and Emma are expecting their 3rd in July. And Menna our PR and Internet Manager is expecting her 1st in June… there must be something in the water..!
All this baby talk must have rubbed off on the buying team… we have some beautiful gifts for expectant parents, families and friends, as well as stunning new products for around your home, available in store and online.
(follow us on here and on our twitter for all the latest news!)
As wikipedia so kindly explains… Twitter is a social networking and micro-blogging service that allows its users to send and read other users’ updates (known as tweets), which are text-based posts of up to 140 characters in length.
Keep up to date with all going ons at Velvet…
Follow us at: http://twitter.com/velvetstore
Happy New Year to you all!
The New Year is a time for resolutions and change.
We have some exciting changes happening here with us at Velvet and it involves a massive SALE! Our furniture store on Bond Street, Brighton is relocating to our Flagship store on Church Road, Hove. Over the next few months, Church Road will be undergoing some big changes including the opening of a new furniture floor and the introduction of clothing, shoes, accessories and swimwear - all in time for the summer!We can’t wait for you to see all the changes that are going to be made but in the mean time we would love you to visit both stores to make the most of the massive sales that are happening!
We are very excited to tell you that on Friday 26th September at the glamorous Hilton Hotel on Brighton Seafront, Velvet were announced Best Independent Retailer for the second year running! There were over 200 entries from around 150 Brighton companies making this a huge win for Velvet, as Brighton is now one of the busiest shopping areas in the UK.
You can view some photos in our Latest News Section, on our Velvet facebook page… and here’s some hilarious outtakes for you to enjoy!!
Although it’s been a while since we had our van and beetle wrapped we thought it was something worth shouting about!
They were a labour of love but we think you’ll agree that they were worth the effort! Just look at them - they’re hard to miss!
12/9/08:
This morning we re-took our team photos as we have lots of new staff! You can veiw the outcome on our meet the team page but we thought you may like to see some of the outtakes as well! (click on the thumbnails for larger images)
5/9/08:
For the second year running we have reached the Brighton and Hove Business awards!
And this year we are up for not one, but two awards!
Once again, we are in the final three for the Best Independent Retailer category.
And this year sees the introduction of a new award for Business Growth - in which we have also made the final four!
The competition is tough so wish us luck!!
We will find out in three weeks!
On Thursday 7th July, Velvet’s Area Manager Karen Giles and PR Co-ordinator Menna Pritchard enjoyed an afternoon at the Races.
They were kindly invited by Brighton’s best free weekly magazine - Latest Homes, in which Velvet has a design advice column (available on this website)
Once again, they were lucky enough to escape the all the rain and enjoyed blue skies, wonderful sunshine and great company!
They weren’t however, quite as lucky with their choice of horses.
Transvestite, which they thought could not lose at this particular track failed! But at 4.30pm the tables turned and betting each way brought them a little slice of success with Tuscan Treaty and Star Strider!
(click on thumbnail for larger version)
On Sunday 20th July we enjoyed our second annual team BBQ on the beach! It was a huge success and, like our Christmas Parties, will definately be a long running fixture in the Velvet Calender.
The Velvet team as well as being colleagues are also great friends which means not only do we enjoy regular social outtings together but you will notice when you visit us that the shop floors have a lovely, relaxed, friendly atmosphere.
We were lucky enough to escape the recent rain and were treated to blue skies, glorious sunshine and delicious food for veggies and meat-eaters alike!
Feel free to have a nose through our photos below! (click on thumbnails for larger versions)
On Thursday 3rd July, to celebrate the opening of our fourth store, we hosted a fabulous Launch Party at our flagship lifestyle and interiors showroom located at
Guests included local press and journalists, interior designers, local businesses and our friends and family!
Take a look at some of the photos from the night!
(click on the thumbnail to see larger versions)
We are so excited to annouce that the brand new Velvet Furniture Showroom is now open!
Take a look at our new store slowly taking shape…
We have been fortunate enough to make some great discoveries as the rennovation has been underway, including beautiful sash windows at the back of the store, amazing high ceilings and wonderful panelling around the pillars - all these perfectly complement the Velvet look!
You will find our wonderful new Velvet store at 66-68 Church Street, Hove
The exciting news is out - We are opening our fourth store! A new furniture and home accessories showroom on Church Road, Hove in the old Gamleys Toy shop. The new store will be open mid June. During the renovation we will be posting a photo diary of the progress, do check back over the next few weeks to see how we are doing!
We are so excited about the new store, “The old Gamleys shop is one of the best sized stores in Hove, so we jumped at this opportunity to show the huge range of furniture we sell from our website. Existing customers have been asking us to open a furniture store in Hove for ages, so we are planning not to disappoint!” says our Co-Director Emma Harrop.
You will find our wonderful new Velvet store at 66-68 Church Street, Hove
We are very excited to tell you that on May 22nd at the glamorous ‘Greats’ Gift Retailer Awards 2008 at the Royal Lancaster Hotel, London, Velvet won the Best Gift Retailer South and South East for its three Lifestyle stores in Brighton and Hove!!
We also reached the final for Best Retail Display and Retail Employee of the Year for our Area Manager and Buyer - Karen Giles.
We are delighted to have won such a prestigious award within our industry, especially after winning our ‘Best Independent Retailer’ 2007 award in the Brighton and Hove Business Awards last September. Well done to the 30 very hardworking members of the Velvet team, they really deserve this. And a huge thank you to our loyal customers who have supported us over the years!
A very glamorous affair … walking into the foyer of Ladbrooke Hall to a buzz of excited press and an anticipated design team. Champagne to get into the spirit of the evening (well it would be rude not to!), big screens of Kylie draped in sumptous bedding, and on the Versailles bed Velvet supplied.
Then we ventured into the Grande Hall, looking for Kylie… and out she comes, all petit and glamorous! Yes she is as fabulous as you can imagine and her bedding range reflects that perfectly.
All the beds used at the launch looked great and complemented Kylie’s new bedding range to a ‘T’.
What a fabulous event!
Liza, Manager
Hi all,
January is a great time for peace and quiet after all the decorations and festivities are over!
It’s the perfect oppotunity to reflect on the year gone by and make plans for the year ahead.
Here at Velvet we are having a huge clean and sort out, no corner is going untouched! All the floors and walls are being repainted! The office is having a face lift - it’s brilliant!
We will also be attending lots of Product Fairs and sourcing lots of exciting new products for the shops and website, so keep checking back and hopefully we will have something that is just perfect for you!
Speak soon, Menna
Hello and Welcome to the Velvet Blog,
This is an area where we can keep you regularly updated with any news and special offers, a place where we can give you advice and tips, or just have a general ‘chit chat’ about life at Velvet! All the team here will be able to contribute to the page so it’s always worth checking back to see what’s been happening here at Velvet!
Speak soon, Menna
