Winding down wasn’t an option for Carol as she opens a ladies boutique in Forres

A successful dress shop owner who moved to Kinloss to retire has re-ignited her passion for fashion and is all set to open a new clothes shop in Forres high street.

Carol Woodhouse runs a busy clothes shop, InStitches, in Nairn, but when the time came to retire, she started to wind down the shop, and move to the Forres area.

Unfortunately, soon after moving last year, her husband suffered a series of health issues and died.

As an unstoppable 76-year-old, Carol found she still had a lot of stock from her Nairn business and saw an empty shop beckoning on Forres high street.

She said in Nairn, the repairs and alterations were the biggest part of her business. However, one of her staff made kilts for a customer in America, who showed an interest in having a base in Nairn. She is negotiating with him to take that part of the business over.

Carol said: “I struggle to sew now. I still had stock left, and some of it went to Xanadu in Elgin. I thought, I wonder if I can get a little pop-up shop just to get rid of the stock that’s left. So I made enquiries everywhere.

“I saw this on my rounds, and I thought, that’s a nice looking little shop. I know it’s up for sale, I don’t really want to buy it. I wonder if they’d be prepared to rent it. So I got in touch with them, and here we are. Because I’m living in Kinloss, it’s far easier than going all the way through to Nairn.

“In Nairn, my stuff was all orientated around weddings. So, with this, I am going into less formal wear and smart casuals.

“Basically it’s special occasion wear, there’s some cruise wear. There’s party frocks, evening dresses, little dresses that you can dress up or dress down with or without a jacket.

“Sort of very versatile, easy-to-wear dresses and separates. And there are jumpers and things coming in as well.

“I’m not somebody to sit at home, watch TV, read a book, do jigsaws, or go out with ladies that lunch.”

Carol said she started her sewing business from home in Nairn. That was when she was 60 and just about to retire the first time around.

“It just evolved from something Just to keep me out of mischief, and then I started working in the wedding shop.

“I ended up opening a little shop myself, it got so busy I had to take more staff on and ended up at a bigger shop down at the bottom of Harbour Street. My son was getting married, and I found it so difficult to get the outfit and the accessories, so I started in a small way, and it just snowballed.

Carol Jayne’s Boutique will open at 114 High Street on Thursday 19 September at 10am.

As a special opening promotion, customers who buy in September will get 10 per cent off their next purchase.

Opening hours will be Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday. 10am till 4pm. Closed Wednesdays and Sundays.