Davina Parkhouse, founder of The Bean Hive does not do things by halves so when she decided to mark the Kettering-based card and gift shop’s recent third birthday, it didn’t just call for cake and fizz, but a zebra bursting out of the wall and a party for customers with prizes galore!
The ‘party atmosphere’ has continued with The Bean Hive and its year old sister shop, The Bean Hive by the Sea, in Falmouth which is run by Davina’s daughter Emelye, winning The Greats gift retailing Best Newcomer award last month. The shops are also in the finals in The Retas 2021, the winners of which will be announced at a wonderful awards ceremony on Tuesday 16 November.
Here, Davina shares some of the stores’ best selling products and ranges…
Everyday
Nicola Rowlands from Rifle Paper (1973)
“The designs and colours are stunning and the quality is amazing. The colourful ranges by Nicola Rowlands were a new addition during lockdown and made our shelves look good and always sell well.”
Humour
Jeffrey & Janice from Bold & Bright
“Ever amusing naughty Jeffrey and Janice range – customers spend ages reading all this range.
These are our best sellers in our ‘Sweary Mary rude shop within the shop’.”
Across the board from Quite Good Cards
“These are our the best selling ‘clean’ funny cards. They appeal to both adults and children.”
Art
Cards and prints from East End Prints
“We stock a lot of cards (and prints) from East End prints and we particularly love the music-inspired ones such as This Charming Man.”
Paper Deep Design and Moley and the Tigers
“We sell a lot of small local cards especially in our Falmouth shop, including our in-house ranges by Paper Deep Design and Moley and the Tigers.”
Children’s
Across the board from Eleanor Bowmer
“Our favourite range is everything Eleanor Bowmer designs. The cards are amazing quality, they feel great, the designs are quirky and are a great fit with our colourful shop. We sell most of her other products too.”
Giftwrappings
Neon leopard prints from Petra Boase
“Basically, this is our shop in a wrapping paper form.”
Miffy, Peanuts and Moomin from Hype
“We love them!”
Gifts/Self-purchase
Stationery and partyware from Rifle Paper (1973)
“If we like the brands, such as we do with Rifle, Eleanor Bowman and Hype, we tend to sell a lot of other products too.”
Eleanor Bowmer homewares
“We sell most of the range and love the pink leopard print homewares so much we have it in our kitchen at home too.”
Badges from Hype
“A great addition to the shop.”
Top: The Bean Hive in Kettering.
