Dear Grace - Affordable Interior Items with a Luxury Look and Feel
“I think our variety makes us stand out. Particularly the smaller, individual pieces we do and I think our customer service is brilliant. We have free delivery and we have some customers who can’t put up mirrors or shelves themselves, so we have a team who will do all of that for them. We make sure all the furniture is installed properly and will take all of the rubbish away with us. It is my passion; it’s my life. I love being here”. - Victoria, owner of Dear Grace on why she believes her shop stands above the rest.
Red Lion Walk in Colchester is full of independent shops and Dear Grace is no exception to this. The shop was initially launched in Maldon, 20 years ago and still has ‘Hello Possum’ at Blake House Craft Centre that her daughter runs. Hello Possum also sells flowers, as her daughter is a trained florist. Dear Grace was inspired by Victoria’s upbringing on a farm. She wanted to provide customers with gorgeous luxury home furnishings and accessories at a reasonable price, and boy, are the prices reasonable!
Dear Grace is decorated beautifully inside and outside, but Victoria thinks there might be some misconceptions about the affordability of the products that are stocked. There are over 4000 items in the shop, many of which are available on online, but prices start from 50p! Yes, that’s right, 50p! Victoria doesn’t want to rip people off. She prices all of her items as low as they can be in order to provide her customers with beautiful home furnishings and accessories at a price that everyone who walks into her shop can afford.
As well as having over 4000 items available in the shop alone, Victoria has also decided to offer an interior design advice to private clients where they can pick bespoke items from 17 different furniture suppliers, all available at an extremely reasonable price. If there’s something that any customer wants specifically, Victoria is more than happy to source it and try to get the products into the shop within a week.
The shop is very much based on a mix of French styles and English. Dear Grace doesn’t follow trends - if something happens to be fashionable in the shop, it’s merely a coincidence. This is the sort of ethos we love here at Colchester Streets. Independent businesses in Colchester do such a brilliant job of sticking to their guns and only selling what they want to sell. This is something you wouldn’t be able to find in a high street retailer. Victoria also has between 8 and 9 deliveries a week as there are many loyal customers who enjoy seeing all the new products and there is a consistent stream of these items so you won’t always see the same thing.
As an interior and home furnishing boutique, Victoria and her team want to provide seasonal items for the home and in particular, gifts. Gifts are available all year round and it’s so easy to pick up a unique gift for someone for just £5.00. At the moment, Dear Grace is very much about living for the summer season and outdoor living. There are many trinkets in the shop that will make your summer BBQ’s and picnics simply beautiful, all for such an affordable price. That’s the thing about Dear Grace, just because it looks luxurious, many people assume the prices will match the aesthetics. But they really don’t. There are so many stunning pieces available for you to buy and it’s jaw-dropping at how cheap they are. They’re all fantastic quality and Victoria always has plenty in stock for you.
Colchester is a town that is growing and is great for supporting independent businesses. It’s something that Victoria enjoys doing herself, some of her favourites being Sip and Tuck and Number 10 Museum Street for breakfast. Putting a positive spin on the town is something she feels very passionate about as she believes the town isn’t as bad as it appears to be in the press. There’s an amazing creative and artistic part to the town and she believes that all business owners need to put on a united front to support one another.
Dear Grace is one of those shops that you think you wouldn’t be able to afford to walk through the door. But it’s simply stunning. You can see the handwork and dedication that has gone into the shop as soon as you walk through the door. If you haven’t been in before, please pay Victoria and her team a visit to see for yourselves!
Thanks for having us, we absolutely adore your shop!
Colchester Streets | Professional Photographer