Boutique Magazine Interview
- Posted on
- By Sunday Best
Boutique Magazine Interview With Jan Shutt (CEO Sunday Best) - Read the full interview below
Pride of Lancashire
Trading in Rawtenstall for more than half a century, Sunday Best is still run by the same remarkable founder who started it at the age of 21. Here Gemma Ward catches up with Jan Shutt to discover why her business continues to thrive, even in the most challenging times
The question we really want Jan Shutt to answer is what makes Sunday Best so successful. It's been 53 years since she first opened her store on Rawtenstall’s cobbled Bank Street selling fashion for “all pockets and people.” Over the years it has expanded - both physically and lucratively - spilling out into the two neighbouring units beside it and turning over perpetually pleasing profits.
Yet, in all that time, it remains fiercely independent with its original founder standing resolutely at the helm.
Summer success
While many independents suffered sluggish sales and scant footfall in SS24, Sunday Best enjoyed a great season: “Sell through was strong, despite the weather,” Jan says. “We sold most of our summer stock, including shorts, and we’re in a lean and mean position heading into AW24.”
Over the past few months, shoppers have been pouring into Sunday Best to invest in the veteran buyer’s edit of summer staples. Best sellers spanned from Chalk’s one-size separates and affordable basics by Selected Femme to more luxe buys like Vivienne Westwood accessories.
Following their purchases, customers’ finds are carefully wrapped in tissue paper and placed inside a coveted Sunday Best ‘bag for life’ as part of the store’s five-star service: “It’s all part of the experience and great marketing for us, too.”
“We want the “Best” shopping experience for our customers. Whether it is to relax & fashion chat with a drink & naughty but nice biscuit, or to raid the rails. The customer is king so their needs are catered for”. People want to feel comfortable and relaxed while they’re with us, and we’re not into high-pressure sales tactics,” she says. “We offer a nice experience – whatever customers want, really – like tea, coffee, and biscuits. Some people stay for hours, and I think these little touches help.”
Free alterations are also all part of the service, which are provided by the store’s resident seamstress, Pui-Wan Lam. She is regularly called to the fitting rooms to pin garments onto customers’ bodies before transforming them to their exact specification, sometimes overnight. “We offer this for any garment, no matter its price,” says Jan. “It’s another way we can stand out.”
National treasure
Indeed, Sunday Best is among the most famous fashion indies in the country. Its three-storey 5,000sq ft space is a much-loved institution in the “gritty” mill town of Rawtenstall, which The Times recently ranked among the ‘10 best places to live in the UK.’
In the beginning, Jan’s inspiration for the business came from Biba’s boutique on Kensington High Street. She recalls how retail was moving towards ‘self-service,’ and that she wanted to bring a similar experience to Lancashire: “I was only 21 and didn’t really know what I wanted to do as a career. I was going to be a PE teacher as I loved sport. I also considered becoming a librarian. But I had an entrepreneurial spirit and the idea of starting my own business really excited me. When I discovered Biba, I realised I could probably bring a similar idea to the north.”
Borrowing £3,000 from a relative (worth around £60k in today’s money), Jan secured a spot inside the historical Victoria Jubilee Building, which is where Sunday Best remains today. Her vision to help customers find “their best dress” was fully embraced by the town’s fashion-conscious locals. So much so that she’d managed to repay the hefty loan – with interest – within the first year.
In the decades that followed, business boomed. And by the 1990s, Sunday Best had reached new levels of national acclaim: “We featured on The Clothes Show and our phone line was completely jammed for a week,” she says. “We’ve also won several awards, including Drapers’ Overall Retailer of the Year in 1997, beating off Selfridges and Hobbs. I think that really helped us achieve nationwide recognition.”
Visionary retail
So, what are the other secrets behind Sunday Best’s enduring popularity? Keeping up with trends and staying ahead of customers’ needs is undoubtedly on the list. Jan is famously hard-working (she only recently cut her working week down to 50 hours), and still adopts old school methods such as poring over the national newspapers and pulling out clippings for inspiration. Her close-knit team of 12, who she describes as “extraordinary,” also keep their ears to the ground – particularly on social media: “This morning they let me know that ‘demure’ is the word we should all be using this week,” she says, slightly tongue-in-cheek.
Of course, giving shoppers what they want is fundamental to any business. And over the years Jan has embraced numerous changes - whether it’s been the jump to selling online (which she first trialled in 2007) to broadcasting live on social media. “You have to always adapt,” she says. “You can never stand still.”
It’s probably for this reason that Sunday Best’s customers remain “incredibly loyal,” with some continuing to shop there for decades: “Sometimes their loyalty moves me to tears — it’s why we’ve survived all these years,” Jan says. “Many customers have grown up with us. They came in with their mums as children and are now parents themselves. Now we have the next generation, and so it goes on.”
An expert eye
As you might expect, Jan is also one step ahead when it comes to sourcing new brands and styles. An while she continues to oversee every buying decision, the rest of team is very much involved in the process: “There’s a wide age range among us and it’s good to get everyone’s opinion,” she says. “Some are good with shoes; others have an eye for more contemporary fashion while some understand different body types better. Everyone gets a say in what we bring into store.”
With 30+ suppliers and around 12 new brands entering (and leaving) the Sunday Best fold each season, Jan is endlessly on the hunt for newness. She visits London at least once a month and attends trade shows in Paris, Copenhagen and the UK every season. Each trip bears the same mission: to find the next big thing: “We try very hard to source unknown brands,” she says. “We often bring in collections that are new to the UK, but a large retailer will pick them up after a few seasons and we have to move on. Yet, finding those little pearls of magic is what makes us exciting. It keeps this job exciting, too.”
Sunday Best’s key sellers have a distinctive aesthetic. For AW24, Jan is particularly excited about California-inspired French label Five and Italian brand La Haine. She also expects Rundholz Black Label, which it has now stocked for 14 years, to sell well: “It’s very quirky and has its own sense of style, so it’s a great a fit for Sunday Best.” Meanwhile, Lofina – the retailer’s number one footwear brand – provides the perfect pairing: “Once you’ve tried their shoes or boots, you’re instantly addicted.”
Quality and sustainability are also top priorities and Jan praises Danish brands in particular for their ethics. “I love working with the Danes,” she says. “You know the garment has been made by a factory that pays people well, the cotton is organic, and it has a nice back story. Knowing the product’s journey is very important to us and our customers.”
Strategic buying
Accessories are particularly strong for Sunday Best, especially in the autumn and winter when shoppers stock up on Christmas gifts. Jan makes a solid case for steering clear of early discounting and Black Friday deals: “Clothing sales do tend to ease off by the beginning of December, but that’s when our accessories come into the fore,” she says. “We set up a free gift-wrapping station and the store is buzzing. I think if more retailers invested more heavily in accessories for that time of the year, they’d see a much better return and wouldn’t have to go into sale early.”
Buying close to the season has also become more common for Sunday Best as a way to ensure the correct products arrive in store at the right time: “We’re definitely carrying more transitional ‘just in time’ stock,” Jan says. “While we did 100 per cent forward orders a few years ago, it’s now more like a 60/40 split. These days many brands have their own B2B sites or NOS lines and it’s great for reacting to the weather and new trends.”
The founder cites British short order brand Chalk as a great example – and says it’s an added bonus that the supplier doesn’t sell B2C: “Trying to find brands that you don’t have to compete with online is almost impossible these days,” she says. “I love finding a supplier like Chalk that offers short order and doesn’t sell via its own platform.”
But like any retailer, Jan admits that she still gets buying wrong from time to time - even with all her experience: “I don’t always get it right,” she says. “Sometimes it’s 100 per cent no sell-through. But I believe it’s better to have tried and failed than to have played it safe.”
When a brand doesn’t sell, Jan also believes in making tough decisions: “It’s never personal, it’s just business. We’ve built great relationships with agents and brands over the years, and I’ll always leave the door open. I’m not unwilling to give a brand another chance.”
A new era
Despite its healthy sales figures, Sunday Best has still felt the knock-on effects of the pandemic and recent economic woes. Jan believes the government could do more to help small businesses and high streets thrive – and she’s already had a promise that things will improve straight from the horse’s mouth: “Keir Starmer visited us before he became prime minister, and I asked him to solve the issue of this country’s antiquated business rates system if he got in power,” she says. “He looked me in the eye and promised to do something about it, so let’s hope he keeps his word.”
Elsewhere, with the retail landscape evolving so dramatically in recent years, Jan says the team is working harder than ever to keep up: “The big players are getting bigger and they’re swallowing up smaller shops,” she says. “To stand up against the giants you must have a strong point of difference. Our labels are special, we have an amazing team, and our focus is always on creating a unique and unforgettable experience. That’s what keeps people coming back.”
Modern retail isn’t easy, even for a master like Jan. And as she approaches her fifty-fourth year in business, you have to wonder if she ever dreams about riding off into the sunset. “Absolutely not,” she says. “I love what I do; I wouldn’t be here otherwise. Even after all this time I’m never bored. My passion for the business, team and loyal customers keeps me going. I’m not sure when I’d want to give that up.”