This website was last updated on: 06 November
The Willow Tree opened in 2006 as a retail shop in the centre of Weston-super-Mare. However, at the end of 2008, due to a change of circumstances beyond our control, we had to close the retail premises and made the decision to continue trading online.
The Willow Tree was started by Ken, Sarah and Annie - based on an idea by Annie that built on the vague concepts of Ken and Sarah ... you could say that it was a full team effort.
The shop did very well to begin with and we started to attract customers, many of whom have become very good friends. However, towards the end of the summer, Ken’s health began to deteriorate, leading to hospitalisation from August through to his death in February 2007, apart from a couple of short respites.
Annie and Sarah made the decision to continue with the shop and reopened three weeks after losing Ken. Once again, the shop did well but was not helped by the weather of that summer.
By September 2007, the level of trade had dropped dramatically and we were considering our future but we decided to battle on through the down time.
In November 2007 both Annie and I were ill so decided to stay home for three days. When we returned to the shop, we found that the landlord had locked us out and refused to allow us access to the premises (or to the three pet rats who lived there). This was the start of a bitter legal battle to enable us to retrieve the one remaining rat and the stock, which we eventually succeeded in December 2007.
Since then, we have been working at updating the website and creating our online shop facility. Unfortunately, this has taken longer than anticipated due to other demands being made on our time, such as building websites for other people, which took priority over our own.
However, the bulk of the work has now been completed and we are proud to launch the new webiste for The Willow Tree.
Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions.
The Willow Tree was started by Ken, Sarah and Annie -
The shop did very well to begin with and we started to attract customers, many of whom have become very good friends. However, towards the end of the summer, Ken’s health began to deteriorate, leading to hospitalisation from August through to his death in February 2007, apart from a couple of short respites.
Annie and Sarah made the decision to continue with the shop and reopened three weeks after losing Ken. Once again, the shop did well but was not helped by the weather of that summer.
By September 2007, the level of trade had dropped dramatically and we were considering our future but we decided to battle on through the down time.
In November 2007 both Annie and I were ill so decided to stay home for three days. When we returned to the shop, we found that the landlord had locked us out and refused to allow us access to the premises (or to the three pet rats who lived there). This was the start of a bitter legal battle to enable us to retrieve the one remaining rat and the stock, which we eventually succeeded in December 2007.
Since then, we have been working at updating the website and creating our online shop facility. Unfortunately, this has taken longer than anticipated due to other demands being made on our time, such as building websites for other people, which took priority over our own.
However, the bulk of the work has now been completed and we are proud to launch the new webiste for The Willow Tree.
Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions.
