Hull Spotlight: Tessie's

The latest in my Hull Spotlight series celebrating local businesses in Hull is Tessie's, an independent clothing and accessories shop (find my previous post on Thieving Harry's here). Tessie's is located on Newland Avenue, which is one of my favourite places to go for a bit of a wander, a coffee and, let's face it, probably (/definitely) some cake plus obviously a snoop around Tessie's, which I can't seem to be able to leave without buying at least one ring because they do the cutest rings I've ever seen and they're super affordable. I've recommended Newland Avenue in a post before as a great alternative to shopping in the city centre and it really is a great street for a wander, a browse and a coffee or a spot of lunch.

(Update: Tessie's has now moved location since I wrote this blog post and have a fabulous bigger shop on Humber Street, so pretty much ignore everything I say about Newland Avenue in this post...)

You can't really miss Tessie's as you walk along Newland Avenue, with its standout turquoise and pink frontage and the ever cute window display, which at the moment is Valentine's themed and full of paper hearts with customers' descriptions of love written inside them. If that isn't the cutest idea for a window display then I don't know what is. That alone shows how engaged the staff are with their customers and that's something I love about independent shops. You get a much more personal experience and it's nice to go into a shop and be able to have a real chat with the staff as opposed to a 'did you find everything you were looking for today?' chat. The Tessie's staff themselves are absolutely lovely, which obviously just makes you want to keep going back (see above re my ring buying habit) and you can absolutely tell that they're passionate about the shop.

Inside the shop is just as cute as the front and as well as having beautiful looking jewellery displays that must take so much effort and time and rails of the most gorgeous clothes, there are also some lovely personal touches like plants, prints. and vintage mirrors. As you enter you're greeted by jewellery, which as I said is displayed beautifully and properly laid out, which means you can see all of it and have a proper browse and then clothes are further in, displayed on rails along the wall. Everything they sell in Tessie's is very on trend (as you can see they've got both embroidery and velvet nailed), but with something that little bit different at the same time, which makes it unique and sets it apart from the high street. I'd actually say it's a very 'me' shop and I love pretty much everything in there. It's also very reasonably priced - as I mentioned already the jewellery is so affordable and the clothes are cheaper than some high street shops.

I said this in my last post, but it really is the personal touches and general feel of an independent business that make it lovely and unique and the quotes that are all around the shop are so positive (they even have positive quotes you can rip off and take away with you in the changing rooms - best idea ever) and that's the general vibe given off by Tessie's - it's such a positive and friendly environment. It has heaps of personality and pair that with the lovely staff and it just generally makes shopping there the nicest little treat. If you're Hull based and you haven't been in yet then definitely check it out! If you're not Hull based then don't worry because they have a website - HERE - where you can browse to your heart's content, plus they do free UK shipping so why not treat yo'self while you're at it?

Have you been to or heard of Tessie's?

Amy x