Tedberry Market to help small businesses reach thousands of customers

Two local retailers have joined forces to give small businesses across Northern Ireland the opportunity to reach thousands of customers at the Christmas TedBerry Market.

Created by embroidery company, Ted & Stitch and boutique floral studio, Millson and Berry, the event on Saturday, November 19 in the Eikon Exhibition Centre in Lisburn was born from a joint passion of connection and community.

The Christmas TedBerry Market, sponsored by the Corner Bakery, follows the huge success earlier this year of the spring and summer events which collectively gave 300 small businesses the opportunity to reach 5,000 customers – helping to generate an estimated total revenue of £350k.

Applications are open until Monday, October 17 for businesses to apply for a stall at the November event. There’s 150 stalls available and up to 4,000 people are expected to attend on the day.

Sarah Thompson, founder of Ted & Stitch, said: “We are so excited to open applications for the Christmas TedBerry Market and would encourage all small businesses wishing to extend their customer base to apply. It’s such a difficult time for retailers across Northern Ireland and our initial idea was to give businesses, who were mainly online only, the opportunity to have a shop front for the day to help them to connect with their customers face-to-face.

“We believed that if we could champion small businesses, like our own, and bring them out from behind the screen and right in front of their customers, we could build a supportive and positive community that gave them a platform to increase their revenue and visibility, and I am so proud to say that we have achieved this. The response to date has been incredible, never in our wildest dreams did we think we would need a space like the Eikon Exhibition Centre for our third event of the year to cope with the demand, both from our lovely retailers and the number of people attending the market.”

Jane Millar, co-founder of Millson & Berry, added: “The TedBerry Market gives people the opportunity to find some of the most incredible local businesses that they might not even know exist. Our previous events have had a fabulous array of retailers from beauty to crafts, handmade goods to pet apparel, jewellery to artisan food and handcrafted linen to knitwear and this one promises to be even bigger and better than before.

“The feedback we have received to date has been unbelievable. Three local businesses have told us that they were ready to close their doors, but the boost they received from retailing at the market has saved them – as a small business owner, this makes me feel so proud. I would encourage any small business interested in taking a stall to visit our website and apply today and let us help you get a much-needed boost in sales ahead of the festive season.”

Tickets go on sale Tuesday, November 1 and are £6 per person.