About us
We opened Matthias Winter in September 2018. Before opening the shop I was a teacher and was running a Pre-School in a local village school. I broke up from school for the summer holiday at the end of July and opened the shop in September - fitting a holiday and shop refit in between - that was one busy summer! I had no experience of retail so have been on a very steep learning curve ever since we opened. The name Matthias Winter was my great grandfather's name. His full name was Matthias Winter Yelland. The name Winter was given to him in honour of a family friend named Winter Sidebottom but sadly we do not know the reason why and now are unlikely to ever know. Matthias Winter had a grocery shop in Horbury, West Yorkshire which was my only, albeit tenous link to the retail world and I always loved the name which was the real reason for my choosing it.
Since opening the shop it is has grown and evolved in line with my own personal interests. We moved away from the largely gift based focus we started with to more of a mix of practical household items and gifts/cards. I have always been interested in environmental issues and sustainability. I saw the opportunity to use the shop as a channel to further my own knowledge and to influence others through the products we sell and our actions as a retailer. Our products are all carefully selected for their ethical credentials and we actively seek out suppliers who are either local or have charitable gifting as part of their business model. I am currently focussing on increasing our use of UK suppliers. By doing this the intention is to reduce the transportation mileage of our products and also to support UK small businesses.
In November 2019 we started selling cleaning products on a refill basis setting up our refill station in a prominent section of the shop. Refills are the heartbeat of our shop and it gives us real pride each time we send a pallet full of empty 20L containers back to the supplier to be refilled. Customers can bring their empty bottles for refilling or buy our beautiful amber glass bottles. We use Bio D, Fill and Miniml products. These brands manufacture cleaning and laundry products in the UK using biodegradable ingredients. We also sell Alter Native shampoo, conditioner body wash and hand wash. These products use essential oils for their scents and are also made in the UK.
We collect some items in store for recycling which can't be recycled kerbside. These include ink jet printer cartridges, wine corks, stamps and uncoloured candle wax.
We are located just off the market place, a few doors along from the Forum Cinema. We offer a bike creche for anyone wanting to visit Hexham on two wheels rather than four. There is space to attach your bike to the railings outside the shop and we can keep an eye out for you from our counter. Come along and visit us if you can or get a feel for the shop on the website. It would be lovely to welcome you into the shop.
The photo above is of myself and Derek Kennedy, our local Councillor who very kindly cut the ribbon for us on 8th September 2018.
Don't hesitate to give me a call me on 0751 805 7112 if you need any help or have any questions and I'll do my best to help.
Alison