A WHITCHURCH family clothes business has thanked its customers after being shortlisted for 'Family Business of the Year' in the finals in business awards in the West Midlands.
Lornas House V&H Sole in High Street has been shortlisted in the Federation of Small Business (FBS) Awards for Family Business of the Year alongside three other businesses and will be heading to the awards which take place on Wednesday, March 22.
The business has been running for 15 years and owner, Jane Lyon was amazed to be shortlisted and paid tribute to her customers.
She said: "We have been members of the FSB for over three years.
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"So when the opportunity to enter a category came along we decided to give it a go.
"We are truly delighted to be shortlisted as Family Business of the Year for the West Midlands.
"We couldn't have achieved and be in this category without our Lornas House V&H Sole team and our loyal customers.
"I feel simply honoured to be shortlisted. However, it would be nice to bring the award back to Whitchurch.
"We are very much looking forward to the awards night on Wednesday, March 22.
"However, we are sincerely grateful to have come this far."
The business was started in the family home, where Whitchurch author Lorna Sage grew up and was named after her and two years after setting it up, Jane opened her first shop in No44 in High Street.
Jane spoke about how the business grew over the years and cope through the Covid-pandemic.
She added: "We have grown over the years and listening to what our customers would like.
"We now run a gift shop, ladies clothing and lifestyle store and shoe shop.
"The Covid-19 struck and we had to think how we could survive this.
"As a family we started to build an online presence to keep us going.
"My daughter Tori has been an integral of our survival, building our website from scratch."
Jane spoke about how she kept in touch with her customers when the country was facing lockdowns and other restrictions.
She said: "Covid-19 was a difficult time for us.
"We wanted to do something positive to keep in touch with all who follow us.
"So we decided to cook.
"Every day we would film a cooking video and upload it to our Facebook page.
"This allowed all who followed us to keep engaged with our daily antics."
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