Blind faith in high street for Rasen’s newest business

Sam Rowles, Charlotte Rowles-Sullivan and Sophie Rowles opened Blind Giraffe in Market Rasen’s Queen Street earlier this month and have been delighted with the response.

While they don’t sell blinds, giraffes do feature among their quirky animal-themed gifts.

Sam said: “The name is completely random, but it fitted with our quirky style.”

The sisters have run their business online for the past couple of years, alongside their main jobs, and have also had stalls at a number of events.

They had already been talking about taking the business to the next level, but when Sophie said she wanted a change of career they took the plunge to take on a shop.

Charlotte said: “It is not a perfect time for business with Covid, but it was perfect timing for us.

“Our landlords has been extremely supportive and so have our businesses.

“The general public have been amazing too.

“We had lots of people through the door on our opening day, despite the weather, and lots more people have liked our Facebook page.”

All three sisters are true animal lovers, having been brought up locally on a farm, and this love shines through with the range of animal-related items within the shop.

Sophie will be running the shop day to day, with the support of Charlotte and Sam.

Charlotte said: “We are here to stay and look forward to welcoming new customers.”