Business Love Stories – Health & Food Llanrwst

Looking for a change in their work life balance drove Katerina to leave her successful music career and along with Colin, a touring musician, took the huge steps leaving the hustle and bustle of city living, for the beautiful tranquility of the North Wales countryside. This brave move not only gave them the lifestyle they had dreamed of but also the start of a new and exciting journey.

Located on the edge of Snowdonia this “local hub for better living” offers the community and visiting tourists a sample of the best that the area has to offer, artisan local produce, organic fruit & veg, wholefood ingredients and supplements all under one roof.

Katerina takes time out of her day to share with me the love for the North Wales countryside, their local community, and their business.

Croeso i Iechyd a Bwyd Llanrwst  (Welcome to Health and Food Llanrwst www.healthandfood.wales/)

What made you set up on your own?

“I had a successful career in the music industry as an independent music promotor and Colin still is a successful touring musician when he gets the opportunity. The music industry is extremely stressful, and this coupled with the unfavourable work life balance, was the deciding factor for us both wanting to make a change, to do something different and work for ourselves.”

Can you remember the moment you decided?

“It all started with us making the big move from London to the beautiful countryside of North Wales. We had no clue what we were going to do, but we just went for it and waited to see what would come up. The town we moved to was home to a well-established business of 30 years, and during a conversation with the owner it came to light they were looking to sell. This conversation played on our minds and became a bit of a dinner time joke on how we could always buy the business and become shop owners. Running a shop had never been on our radar but, as time passed, the joke turned in to “What if” and “What if” turned into reality. We always had a keen interest in food and healthy living, and, after careful consideration and budgeting, the decision was made! We had no experience of running a shop or being shop keepers but 6 years later we are still here.”

How would you describe your relationship with your business right now?

“Now we have a better work life balance. Working in the music industry came with many pressures and financial risks as tours and events required monies to be paid up front and we tended to cover this funding ourselves. How things have changed, now we have the time available to develop amazing relationships with our customers and enjoy the most deep and wonderful conversations with them, something we were not expecting. Unlike the music industry running our shop is real life, down to earth, it’s refreshing and makes us feel very proud shop keepers”.

When was it at its worst? What was happening for you then?

“This last year has been tough, as soon as the energy prices increased, we immediately felt the effect with a reduction in footfall and turnover. Everything has gone up, energy, wholesaler prices for stock and we don’t know where or when it will end, it’s a worry with the uncertainty. During lockdown we were able to stay open due to being a food shop as well as selling supplements and during this time enjoyed the support from the local community who took to shop locally rather than face the crowds of the big supermarkets.”

What advice would you give to another owner who’s feeling disillusioned?

“Customers are everything and one advantage an independent high street business has is the ability to enjoy direct contact with customers, real life smiles and real-life conversations, this personal interaction with customers is so important, and not experienced at the big supermarkets. Focusing on your customers in every way is vital and helps with word-of-mouth recommendations in the local community. We are proud shop keepers and value the great reputation we have built for providing good advice and service.”

What keeps you connected to why you started your business in the first place?

“The brilliant relationships forged and fascinating chats we have with our customers. It’s a huge trust exercise sharing conversations and forms an important part of what keeps us connected. Another interesting aspect is that we have managed to run and grow our business ourselves without having to follow any retail advice from an outsider, we went with our creativity and gut feeling and its worked.”

Would you say you love your business? Tell us about something you’ve done to show your business love and nurture your relationship with it.

“Yes, we do love our business and its uniqueness. We built our shop from our ideas and our minds eye of what we believe a shop should look and feel like. It is unique to us, built from love and intuition, with the “homemade” feel, price tags handwritten, no corporate brandings, no “must dos” and “should dos”, even our background music play list is handpicked by Colin, we have built something that works.”

Who or what keeps you going in tough times?

“Our customers, the beautiful countryside and lifestyle balance living in rural North Wales has given to us. We live in a town with less than 4,000 people and love it, we are lucky to be here, its impossibly beautiful and being able to live in these surroundings keeps us going.  Also, our amazing team working alongside us in the business, whom we are very proud and grateful to for helping us keep on top of everything.”

What do you love about working for yourself?

“Freedom, flexibility and the work life balance, we report to ourselves, which is wonderful, coupled with the pride and satisfaction of self-achievement. The journey to work isn’t too bad either as we live in the beauty of the Welsh hills which are only 10 minutes from our shop!”

How seasonal is our business?

“Seasonality is a mix, although our town is on the edge of Snowdonia is not the centre for tourism, we do have tourists visiting our shop, but they are not our core shoppers – our business is made from our great regular customers.”

We’re living in interesting times, what steps are you taking to ensure your future?

“One of the many advantages of being an independent business owner is the ability to make decisions quickly, important when keeping an eye on costs, vital for ensuring our future. I am forever juggling and ordering stock with the priority on checking supplier prices, if I can source the same quality product from an alternative supplier at a cheaper price, I will swap supplier and pass the savings onto my customers.  We are also exploring the possibility of holding food events and talks, that are indirectly related to our shop, at a place and time where the local community can come together and share ideas. This sharing of ideas and community spirit will help continue building our good reputation, word of mouth referrals and in turn increase customers.”

To learn more about Health Food Llanrwst take a look at this piece from a BBC documentary to see Katerina, Colin and the shop in real life.