As we get ready to reopen the store on 12 April we thought we’d reintroduce ourselves and share a bit about how we got here. This week it’s my turn and if you’ve read Abel’s blog already, that makes me the other half of All Things Analogue!

My journey to our store has been quite a different one to Abel’s. No stationery related jobs, no career in retail (though I did work in the local Waitrose as a teenager back when it was Safeway - remember Safeway!? - and if you know Old Town you can probably guess my age from that nugget of personal history!

But my love of stationery started young and was nurtured through the contents of a large, knitted sock. Every Christmas there was three essentials that were ALWAYS in my stocking: chocolate coins, a satsuma and stationery. Pens, pencils, colours, notepads, rubbers and sharpeners all crammed into that colourful festive tradition. 

History became my passion when I was at school and after growing up in Eastbourne my studies took me to Norwich; a wonderful city for a history student with historic buildings and pubs in equal measure. Studying allowed me to indulge my love of stationery too. Different coloured pens for different notes, an army of highlighters, different notebooks for all my classes and enough Post-its to organise a small armada (Spanish, of course!) At times my student desk looked like a pop-up stationery shop. 

After a great few years in Norwich I moved to London and started my career in heritage and museum learning. My work in museums required a lot of planning, organisation... and stationery. I’m a complete organisational addict and lover of lists. (I’ve even been known to add something to a list that I’ve already done so that I can cross it off straight away - I know there are others like me out there!)  It was whilst working at the beautiful Old Royal Naval College in Greenwich that I met Abel, who introduced me to desk pads and there was no going back!

We spent a great 10 years in London and it was definitely a hard decision to leave. But once we’d decided to move our family and give the business a go, moving back to Eastbourne seamed like the best place for us and, thankfully, it was!

It’s been great returning to the coast and putting my creative skills into something new and exciting for our family. I can’t wait to open the doors of our store again and spend more time reacquainting myself with the virtues of Eastbourne. Bring on Airbourne 2022!

Nicki