Sunday 29 November 2009

Christmassy windows

The eagle-eyed amongst you may have noticed a certain festive theme running through recent posts, and this one is no exception! Our merchandising masterminds Sass and Jane have pulled out all the stops in our Stratford store to create the two most beautiful Christmas windows Warwickshire, nay, the entire country, has ever seen.

Here's a pic of our smaller window in the evening, with the traditional Christmas dinner table adorned with treats from Aspire amongst the post-dinner debris. That's real Christmas cake! There was also a full box of After Eights towards the rear of the table, but unsurprisingly, it's empty now.


This is the same window in daylight hours, looking out onto Wood Street. I love the cosy feel that Sass and Jane have given this window, with the Elena Rose coat and Dot Rose cardign casually thrown over the back of the chairs.


The larger Stratford window is a veritable winter wonderland, featuring the newest Aspire girl (and by girl, I mean mannequin), the lovely Simone. She's sporting the Traffic People Sequin Fan dress, which is ideal Christmas party wear. Sometimes when I look at this window I come over all Nordic and long for an evening stroll along a mountainside crunching through the fresh snow. No one else?


Stratford council have kindly allowed local businesses to take over the windows of empty shops for the festive period, sort of like large 3D advertisements. Laura and Libby really went to town on our window in Bards Walk, where we have on display some of our bestselling items and beautiful gift ideas to inspire people to pay us a visit.


Here's the very stylish Fever Kensington coat, and you can also see the Irregular Choice Flick Flack shoes and incredibly popular Vintage Parcel wash bag at the bottom:


The Monica dress and Escala dress, both by Fever, are amazing for the party season:


So many gifts! Treat your friends! Your family! Yourself! I am particularly a fan of the Dandy wash bag and matching make up bag at the right of the picture (just in case, dear reader, you were thinking of treating your favourite blogger. Have I told you how pretty you look today?).


We're in the running for the best window in Stratford - it's a competition where shoppers vote for the shop window they like the most. So if you're local, or really really dedicated to helping Aspire, please pop into our Stratford shop and give us your support!

On that note, I shall leave you. I'm still suffering the impact of Cyber Monday - the busiest online shopping day in history - the Aspire Style site was no exception to this. Back to the packing and posting!

Until next time,

Ria

Gift inspiration

The Christmas rush has well and truly begun here at Aspire, with people stocking up on gifts and treats for the forthcoming festivities. So many of our customers are asking for gift wrapping that we're getting through our trademark pink tissue paper like nobody's business! Fortunately, we Aspire girls are highly trained wrapping machines who work at the speed of light and never even get paper cuts, so we are more than happy to oblige. If you're on the lookout for gift ideas for the ladies in your life, here are some of my favourites:


There's loads more online and in the shops, so please pay us a visit!

Until next time,

Ria

Friday 20 November 2009

Christmas is coming!

Hello all! Very sorry for the deadly silence surrounding the Aspire Style blog of late, but we've had a bit of a shift around and we're pleased to announce that blogging will now be a very regular (hopefully weekly) feature! So, let's get you up to date with recent developments...

We've been shouting this from the rooftops, but in case you haven't heard, Aspire Style is OFFICIALLY the best shop in Coventry and Warwickshire. Ten of the girls headed to the Warwick Arts Centre in October to attend the Godiva awards ceremony where it was announced that we had won the best shop award. Co-owner Emma and Stratford manager Abbey went up to accept the award, which is now proudly on display in the Stratford shop.


Following the excitement of the Godiva awards, we had to begin seriously thinking about Christmas. In all three shops, we're often complimented on our beautiful displays, and our Christmas displays have been no exception. In fact, one visitor to our Stratford shop even said that our displays were better than Harrods! Credit for this goes to Sassi, Jane and Laura, who worked together to create this beautiful centre table:


Oxford and Warwick are also getting into the spirit of things, with this beautifully coloured table of jewellery in Oxford (notice the cheeky little reindeer!)...


...And this gorgeous ivy-topped bookcase in Warwick - yet another of Sassi's creations:


We've also been having fun helping our customers prepare for the impending party season, and items like the gorgeous Fever Ivy dress and the ever-popular Yumi Bobble dress have been flying off the rails. Incidentally, this weekend (20th - 22nd November) is our 15% off Party Dresses promotion, so get yourself down to one of our shops or visit our website and grab yourself a bargain!

And don't forget, if you're on the hunt for Christmas gifts, you can do so from the comfort of your own home by visiting our fabulous gift range, where you'll find the best-selling Vintage Envelope purse as featured in Look magazine, and the first two pieces from our new Dandy range: a beautiful make up bag and matching toiletries bag. If you're having trouble deciding what to get people, we also do gift vouchers, and with free postage when you spend more than £50, you might have to treat yourself too!

If you want to keep up to date with the latest Aspire happenings, as well as receiving notifications of new blog posts, you can now follow us on Twitter, as well as our fabulous Facebook group. We love to hear from our customers, so feel free to get in touch!

Until next time,

Ria