Caitlin Finnan and Ash Anderson are all too familiar with the trials and tribulations of running a business, but, if anything, those challenges have inspired them to follow their dreams. Meg Winton spoke to them about their new venture, Drew & May
SHOPPERS who love to stay on trend can rejoice, as a new business has opened its doors in King Street.
“Elevated streetwear” store Drew & May opened in August and offers clothing for children, teenagers, men and women.
Caitlin Finnan and Ash Anderson are the driving forces behind the new business, bringing with them a passion for fashion, personal style and making people happy through clothing.
With the ambition to inject some life back to a dwindling high street in Jersey, they hope Drew & May’s presence can reignite Islanders’ desire to support local, home-grown businesses.
Caitlin was born Scotland, grew up in Canada and has spent her professional career in retail and hospitality in both Canada and Jersey. Ash is local to the Island and has similar professional experience in Jersey and the UK.
The duo was brought together behind the bar at Shinzo, where they became good friends and, unbeknownst to them at the time, future business partners.
They soon followed each other to King Street when Caitlin moved to Esprit and Ash to De Gruchy. The pair shared dreams and doodles about running their own clothing store together, both blissfully unaware that a huge opportunity was just around the corner.
Caitlin explained: “The previous owners of Esprit retired and passed the business over to us as an investment opportunity. It was a big step, but we took on Esprit in 2022.”
After two years at the helm, Esprit closed its doors and reopened as Drew & May – a reference to Ash and Caitlin’s middle names.
But it certainly wasn’t plain sailing for them to get to this point.
“The first two years of business were not easy whatsoever,” Caitlin said.
“The transition was difficult because for a whole year people thought Esprit was closing down. Because we were the new buyers, we wanted to go in a different direction, which was a struggle for us.”
Ash added: “Then we had to raise our prices quite high to catch up with inflation. Our profits dropped; we even took on GST ourselves to survive.”
The friends and co-owners were dealt their biggest blow yet when they were called into an emergency meeting in May this year.
“Esprit filed for insolvency and didn’t know what was going to happen,” said Caitlin.
“We wondered whether we should continue this and try something else, considering what we’d been through during the first years in business. It wasn’t a strong start.”
But Caitlin and Ash decided to take the leap and press forward with their shared dream, quickly and luckily securing a supportive supplier that could meet their tight turnaround for getting the shop up and running.
“It’s been a couple of good lessons,” Caitlin said.
The pair had a week between Esprit closing and Drew & May opening to whip the shop into shape.
Ash said. “We were here late every night, painting and redecorating. We did everything ourselves.”
Caitlin added: “We literally painted into the night until we couldn’t tell if the shop was green or grey anymore. You can definitely say we put blood, sweat and tears into it, but at the end of the day, it feels more like us and a representation of ourselves.”
“When I pictured my business, this is what I saw,” said Ash.
Caitlin and Ash are hoping Drew & May will make waves on Jersey’s high street by offering trendy clothes that are accessible and affordable to all, something they feel is desperately needed.
Caitlin explained: “We house five different brands across ladies’, men’s, teens and kids. We wanted to make sure there was something for everybody.”
The pair have made a conscious choice to keep prices low and quality high, with Caitlin explaining: “We have an entry-to-mid price range because we want our customers to find something they like and can afford. That’s really important.
“They feel better and are a lot happier knowing they can go into the shop and not worry that we’re out of their price range.”
And noticing that Islanders are being driven to larger online retailers to find clothes to suit their style and taste, the duo hopes Drew & May can cater to these people too.
“I especially wanted to push teens and kids,” said Ash, “because growing up here, I know there’s not much choice. I’ve watched all the shops just slide away.”
“I’ve not seen any wide-leg or loose-fit trousers for men anywhere in King Street. We could be the first ones to have brought them in. We’ve really tried to keep up with fashion trends.”
Acknowledging that the outlook for high street, in-person shopping in Jersey can seem somewhat bleak, Caitlin said they considered this before launching Drew & May.
“Just after we opened, I saw comments on Facebook where people were complaining that we have no Primark, H&M or Zara and town was dying,” she said.
But the presence of bigger global brands would, Caitlin contended, “kill the town completely” and take away business from local and independent shops.
“It’s why we’ve worked really hard to bring what people are actually asking for – good fashion at reasonable price,” she said.
That’s not to say there weren’t any nerves, hesitation and reluctance between the pair – they’d already had a turbulent time as business owners after all.
“I was nervous to open,” Ash admitted, “because it’s very hard and very expensive to run a business. I just thought, if you fail, you fail and that’s it. It’s a huge learning curve.”
“We’ve seen it first-hand,” they both said, “but we’ve always said we’re never going to let that happen,” Caitlin added.
“I don’t think the everyday person realises how much goes into it, but at the end of the day, we felt it was an opportunity that we wouldn’t get again, so we took the risk.”
Despite the pessimism surrounding the high street, some uninspired shoppers and the bumps along the way, the duo are happy to report that Drew & May has had a successful first few months.
“It’s been fantastic,” Caitlin shared. “We’ve had positive feedback from so many customers. So many parents come in saying ‘it’s so nice to have a place for my kids to shop’, and people who hate jeans shopping have come in and left with two pairs. It’s amazing.”
Ash said: “We’ve put so much work into this, so we want people to be happy and enjoy it. It’s something for the community and people love it, so it’s working.”
Caitlin added: “If we can make shopping just a little bit easier for them, we’ve done something right.”
Could Caitlin and Ash’s confidence to pursue their dream, no matter the challenges, mark a turn of the tide for local and independent businesses in King Street?
Their positive experience has only motivated them to rally for more collaboration and support among the local business community.
“I want to push more for markets for independent businesses,” Ash said. “I think town needs to be a bit more of a hub for local things.”
Caitlin added: “We want to bring the vibe back to town because it’s such a negative topic these days. If other local independents joined in to bring the life back, that would be a massive achievement.”
