Handpicked Hall to be launched in former Skipton Co-op store (From Craven Herald)

Handpicked Hall to be launched in former Skipton Co-op store

11:00am Saturday 2nd March 2013 in News

A new concept in shopping for Skipton it set to launch next weekend.

Handpicked Hall, featuring up to 60 small businesses selling crafts, vintage clothes and farm produce, will open for the first time next Friday, March 8 in the former Co-op department store.

The businesses will be divided into four groups – arts and crafts, food and drink, fashion and accessories, and vintage – and will feature items on sale as diverse as handmade cards and tea cosies to gamekeeper’s fresh pheasant and rabbit.

Anthony Blackburn, who already runs Handpicked Halls in Ripon and Leeds, said he had been overwhelmed by the response from potential stallholders in Skipton, and said he had sold out of space even ahead of Friday’s opening.

“I would have expected a lot of people to have wanted to have a look at it first and wait until it opened, but with Skipton we are already sold out,” he said.

Mr Blackburn said many of the businesses who will be selling in Handpicked Hall could end up taking on a shop in the High Street.

“My dream is that people will come to me and say they have outgrown Handpicked Hall and that they have taken on a shop in the High Street. There is definitely a lot of wonderful and innovative businesses out there in Skipton who are just looking for the opportunity,” he said.

A working arts and crafts centre will also be opened in redundant warehouse buildings adjoining the site and next to the Leeds and Liverpool Canal.

The centre, which is due to open in May, will feature around 40 craftspeople who will both work and sell their wares on site.

Crafts such as rag- rugging, pottery and painting will be included, with workshops for both children and adults.

“This is going to be better than Salts Mill, we’ll have more creators on site, hopefully between 40 and 50, and there’ll be creative classrooms where people can come and try speed crafting - where they try out a different craft,” he said.

Handpicked Hall will be open Tuesday to Saturday from 10am to 5pm and on Sunday from 11am to 4pm. It will be closed on a Monday.

Anyone interested in finding out more should visit the handpicked hall website.