A family run shop is marking its second anniversary with the launch of a new product range – and a fantastic ‘thank you’ offer to York residents.
Avorium, the desk accessory specialist, opened on Colliergate two years ago, selling its unique range of notebooks, diaries, mugs, plant pots and more.
Right now it’s been hit hard by the bollard roadworks which have seriously reduced trade at a hugely important time of year.
Run by a brother and sister team – Tom, Georgia and Olivia Calvert – they say that, aside from the current disruption, it has been a hugely positive experience.
Avorium was launched in the wake of the work-from-home revolution sparked by the pandemic lockdowns. “We found that people wanted the ability to work from home in a nice space, and we wanted to provide them with the ability to come to our shop, and curate their workspace with matching pastel desk accessories,” Tom said.
Georgia added: “People tend to really like our brand, and also the fact that we can personalise all of our products on the spot – with names, initials, even little icons or or star signs – because they make such lovely personal gifts.
“So we are very well supported by locals and tourists in York, as well as the students.”
And to say thank you to residents, they are launching a 20% discount for York people – see the panel for full details.
Avorium special offer
The residents offer for Avorium on Colliergate will run from 13 November until 30 November 2023 and will be 20% off the entire product range in store for York residents
To qualify for the discount you must do one of these:
- Bring in an Avorium leaflet
- Mentions you heard about the offer via YorkMix
- Have ID proof of residency.
Avorium has also just launched a range of wedding stationery, from invitations to menus, table plans, place names and more. There is both a suite of ready prepared designs that can be personalised or tweaked, as well as a full bespoke design service.
The three siblings say they work well as a team. Georgia said: “I tend to deal with all the ops and behind the scenes things. Tom is very much head of customers. And Olivia is design and brand, and also runs all of our social media as well, which is quite a big job.”
The bollard roadworks have hit Avorium’s bottom line.
Tom said: “We rely a lot on local footfall, which is how we generate the majority of our sales. And the roadworks on Colliergate have really impacted the footfall on the street.
“We have fewer people walking past – a lot of people think the road is closed.
“We’ve been really heavily impacted. We’ve been down somewhere around 50% up to about 70%, depending on the day or the week.”
They are encouraging residents to support shops on the street. Other businesses can help out too – Avorium has expanded into the corporate market. “All of our products can be personalised with logos as well as names and initials, which is really popular for small businesses thinking about corporate gifting at Christmas,” Georgia said.
They have launched a leaflet campaign to encourage people back into the store. And Avorium is branching out from Colliergate.
“Christmas is a huge time of the year for us. So as well as having the shop, we’ll be selling on the Shambles Market, the York Christmas market, and the Manchester Christmas market,” Tom revealed
Georgia said: “We love York, we’re from York, we’re local people. And it’s an absolutely great place to run a small business.”
“It’s a great place to come and get all your Christmas shopping!” added Tom. The road is still open, Avorium is still open. Come and see us in our beautiful shop.”