Community retail venture UNITY celebrates £1.2 million sales landmark in Peterborough
A green community retail venture in Peterborough is celebrating a new sales landmark.
The award-winning Up The Garden Bath, which runs the Unity retail outlet at the Queensgate Shopping Centre, has just hit the £1.2 million sales mark in three years.
Unity is home to more than 50 sole trader businesses which have collectively achieved the sales figure with 70,000 transactions.
Co-founder Kez Hayes Palmer said: “The £1.2 million is sales generated for the businesses that trade with us, and that is what makes us so proud.
"Every sale represents somebody’s product, somebody’s idea and somebody trying to build something of their own.
"Knowing that we have been able to help local people sell what they create is incredibly special.”
Unity was jointly founded by Kez and Dave Poulton about three years ago as a spin off from their successful Up The Garden Bath venture, which used unwanted bath tubs as planters for use in gardens at schools, charities, businesses and homes.
Unity provides a commercial income stream that helps support the couple’s community work.
Kez said: “Unity may contain products for sale, but the intention has never been for it to feel like just another shop.
"It is a place where independent businesses can have a chance, where creativity is encouraged and where families can spend time together.
"Our free Create & Craft area inside Unity has been used by 40,000 families.
She said: "There is no complicated proposition behind it.
"It is simply about giving people the opportunity to sit down, pick something up, make something and enjoy being together.
"That 40,000 families have used it shows how treasured that opportunity has become.”