SUCCESS FOR #STYLEHUNTERS

Our #STYLEHUNTERS event at The Guildhall Shopping Centre from 30-31st May in collaboration with Stafford FM and Go Ape has proved ‘extremely popular’ with customers in Stafford and ‘hugely successful’ with the centre’s management team.  

Last weekend #STYLEHUNTERS arrived at the Guildhall Shopping Centre where the team ran a treasure hunt and invited customers to follow a series of clues around the shopping centre that took them into twenty-four shops across the centre to seek the answers.

Anne Graham, Marketing Manager at the Guildhall said “We were absolutely thrilled with the response to the event. Over the course of the 2 days over 400 people followed the clues around the shops. The feedback from our store managers and our customers has been extremely positive and I think everyone has had a good time. We are very grateful for the support shown by Stafford FM who joined us for the 2 days and also to Go Ape who sponsored the event”.

First prize went to Kelly Bradley who completed the trail with her son Tyler and won the top prize of £100 of shopping vouchers. Two runner-up prizes of £50 of shopping vouchers went to Mark Davys and Kelly Griffiths and 4 prizes of £25 voucher went to each of people putting the best photos on the Guildhall’s Facebook page. They were Daisy Heys, Grace Hawkins, Aidan Doran and Holly. All of our winners come from Stafford and Stone.

Every participant received a free gift and there were spot prizes throughout the day including over £450 worth of vouchers to the Go Ape Forest Adventure and other prizes donated by Guildhall stores. A full gallery of the images from the event and snapshots of some of our spot prize winners can be seen here.

The #STYLEHUNTERS concept was developed by Hannah Jean of Find My Style and Laraine Robathan-Field of LRF Style as part of their Only On The High Street consultancy . We would like to thank everyone who made the event a success!

RETAIL THERAPY OR THERAPY FOR RETAIL?

I saw this little sign and it made me smile but it also made me think about what shopping has come to mean to us. We know it ticks a lot of boxes. When we get the outfit right, we look good so we feel good. 
A compliment about our purchase raises our self esteem and we know the influence of power dressing. Affordable fashion has encouraged us to chase trends and because it's cheap, we've been told it's okay to throw it away.  It's so tempting to go out and get our next fix or satisfy our cravings. 







Shopping for clothes has become a social pastime, it helps the economy and with faster and faster broadbands the next purchase is just one click away. Shopping has a massive influence on our wallets, self image and even our storage space. However, I pose a  controversial question. Are we buying too much and are some of us in danger of becoming shopaholics needing therapy for our shopping addiction?

Aargh I hear you say! Here's someone who makes a living from selling image telling us that shopping is bad for us. Not at all,  I acknowledge all the good stuff about shopping and I love seeing people transformed by their purchases. I love dressing up and a beautiful pair of shoes can still make my heart flutter.  However, I try to practise what I preach and be selective about my purchases. When I am tempted, I ask myself this question when I'm in the changing room, "do I like this better than what I was wearing when I came in?" 

I have discovered so many times, when I've been hired to edit and review a client's wardrobe, a little gem that they had forgotten they had or didn't know what to put with it. We can lose touch with what we already have and really we should look carefully at what we need to buy before we rush out to buy more.