Maldon Nub News aims to be supportive to EVERY element of the community from business and shops to people and charities and clubs and sports organisations.

Everyone is finding it tough at the moment and wants life to get back to normal.

We will be profiling some of these local businesses and groups regularly over coming weeks in our UP CLOSE IN MALDON features in the hope that we can be a supportive springboard for your full return to life and business as usual.

Today we feature an interview with Louise Harrison, owner of Just the Thing in Edward's Walk shopping arcade, off the High Street in Maldon.

There was a double reason to celebrate for Louise Harrison when she re-opened her shop doors to customers this week.

For 12 April 2019 was her very first day of trading at Just the Thing in Edward's Walk shopping arcade off High Street, Maldon – and so though Louise's usual shop opening days are Tuesday through to Saturday, when it was announced that non-essential retail could re-open on Monday, 12 April, she

just knew an exception had to be made for the shop's second birthday.

"I was so excited to be welcoming customers back into the shop," says Louise, "I've been able to keep going through lockdown with grants and online orders – and lockdown has given me the chance to do things behind the scenes – but there's nothing quite like having the shop open again.

"We all work so well together in the town and everyone is so helpful. It's a really strong business community and we help each other, rather than see each other as competition," Louise, who is a member of Maldon's Business Board and works with the Sense of Place initiative, says, "I think it's

really powerful when everyone works together like that."

So how did Louise come to open her beautiful shop, full of inspiring gifts? What did she do before?

Louise smiles and tells of a varied career. From working for a large corporate firm in London to starting a toddler group in Billericay using her background in dance, through to work she still does as a paddle board instructor, it's clear that she has acquired many new skills throughout her working life.

However, she realised her true vocation was to run her own retail business and with a background that includes accounting – and a very sharp mind and determined nature – Louise set out to identify a gap in the market that she could potentially fill.

"I thought of all the times I'd tried to find a gift for someone locally and found it hard, so I realised there was a great opportunity there."

Having moved to Maldon 12 years ago, the town was the natural place to set up her business and so Just the Thing was born.

Now Louise feels that in some ways the experience of the pandemic has made her business more resilient, with an online service that offers free delivery up to 10 miles away. But she also believes that the future for Maldon's High Street is bright.

"There's a really strong sense of shopping local and it's growing," she says, "I think people appreciate the diversity that we have right here in our lovely High Street."

And on the second anniversary of opening Just the Thing – and despite the pandemic – Louise had no regrets at all.

"I've done a lot of different things over the years," Louise says, "but now I feel proud to go to work. I meet some amazing people and there's not one day where I think I don't want to go into the shop. Every day is so different and it just keeps me interested.

"I'm just really pleased to be back and open again."