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Saturday 26 January 2013

GOODBYE PETE, THE HUNGERFORD ARCADE SNOWMAN!


Goodbye Pete, the Hungerford Arcade snowman!  Dear old Pete has been sitting on his bench for over a week now, wiling away the hours, enjoying his short but interesting life on earth!   Pete has seen all the comings and goings to and from the Arcade and met some very nice people.    Sadly, the rain came down and dear old Pete is now but a shadow of his former self.  Pete does not mind melting away into oblivion as he will gently flow away down the High Street only to pop-up again in the nearby canal as a free-flowing spirit to begin his travels once again!!  Lucky Pete!  

Dear Pete was sculpted by our very own Alex Rogers.  Thank you Alex! Rita








Saturday 19 January 2013

HOMES & ANTIQUES



Homes & Antiques magazine has published an article on what it has meant to Hungerford Arcade to win the Best Antiques Centre in the UK Award from the Homes & Antiques and National Antiques Week Awards. It has made a tremendous difference to us and gave us an incentive to do improvement works on the Arcade, as being a 16th century building, the work is continuous!  We are very proud when customers comment on seeing us on television and winning the award or reading about us in the press.  We have customers from across the world who come back to us time and time again!    Many of our customers are signed up to our free newsletter which is sent out by e-mail every month! (You can e-mail us at hungerfordarcade@btinternet.com or hungerfordarcade@gmail.com if you wish to sign-up for it). They also support us on Facebook, Blog and Tweet!  The Award has helped Hungerford Arcade to flourish in these difficult times which must be good for all the other shops in the town too. A new competition is taking place now to find the best antiques shop, best antiques centre and best vintage shop in the UK.  I believe our very own Stuart Hofgartner from Below Stairs and Great Grooms have been shortlisted. We heartily wish similar success to them and to all the Awards entrants in the 2013 competition. Rita

Tuesday 15 January 2013

TAKE A CHILD TO WORK DAY


Today is 'Take a Child to Work day' which is exactly what Anna Joy did. Anna brought her beautiful daughter, Sophie. to Hungerford Arcade to learn about antiques and to get a feel for what it is like being an antique trader! Sophie attends St John's School, Marlborough and will be 14 years old on the 27th January.  

Sophie thoroughly enjoyed her time at the Arcade, helping her mother, Anna clean and re-arrange the stock in her unit (Unit 35C) and filling the spaces with the other items they had brought with them. Anna mainly sells silver, glass and ceramics.

Sophie saw how other units were set-up and all the different things that each dealer had for sale. She also met lots of nice people which made her smile a lot! Sophie knew quite a lot about the items her mother sells and is genuinely interested in antiques.

I hope you will like the photos of Anna and Sophie enjoying a very special day together at Hungerford Arcade!
Rita
 






Sunday 13 January 2013

GLORIOUS SUNDAY


We had a wonderful day at the Arcade today.  The sunshine was glorious and despite the cold, cheered everyone up and gave us all our much needed dose of vitamin D! 
Tomorrow is the start of a new week and I hope it will be a brilliant one for all of us!
Rita

Friday 11 January 2013

A HUGE WELCOME


A big hello and welcome to our new friends.  We are very proud to have you together with all our other friends and followers everywhere.  Have a fabulous weekend everyone and if you can, pop into Hungerford Arcade and soak up the wonderful atmosphere.  I am back behind the counter on Sunday so introduce yourself.  Rita

Wednesday 9 January 2013

THAT'S IT FOR ANOTHER YEAR!







Hi Everyone.  Back to normal now after the festive celebrations!
Watched as the Arcade's Christmas tree was taken down, chopped up and put into the shredder along with Hungerford's huge central tree and all the smaller trees up and down the High Street (see pictures).  What a marvellous and efficient job all the chaps did to get the town clean and tidy again for another glorious year!

The Arcade has had a good start to the New Year and inside all the ceilings and beams are getting a fresh coat of paint (David is camera shy so I'm afraid there are no pictures of the wonderful job he is doing) and everyone seems quite jolly - especially the customers!  Everyone's had a fabulous Christmas and quite extraordinarily, most seem quite excited at the prospect of a New Year!  I suspect it is because people think that it cannot be as bad as the last few years!!!...Can it????

Behind the counter is gorgeous Pauline Hawkins (Unit 9) and wonderful manager, Don Greenslade.  Standing outside one of their units is glamorous Chris Pym (Units 3, 4 & 120).  No wonder the Arcade is so popular! I will let you meet more of the stallholders and staff another day.
Best wishes to you all,
Rita