A NEW shop that opened last month is certain to brighten up the Builth Wells high street, in more ways than one.

Beautifully Bonkers opened on Saturday, June 12, having taken over the previous Hawthorns store in the town centre. The shop boasts a retail space as well as a café and even a gallery that will host workshops run by local artists, as well as selling their work, which will encapsulate the local area.

Beautifully Bonkers is selling arts and crafts, Italian clothing and Fairtrade gifts and is planning to offer creative workshops for people to learn new skills and hobbies, as a way of soothing the stress brought on by coronavirus.

The idea to open the shop has long been a dream for owner Colleen Johnson, who decided to take the plunge and purchase the premises, even during the midst of a global pandemic.

“We are a family-run business trying to survive Covid-19 and due to it happening I had to make some very rash decisions in some very scary times and buy another shop,” said Colleen, whose family also run the popular Georgie Porgie's Coffee Stop directly opposite Beautifully Bonkers, on High Street. Colleen also still runs a part-time salon on the coffee shop premises, which has been in the family for more than two decades.

“We have a café, shop and salon all under one roof, run by me, my daughter and my sister-in-law Jess, while my mother, who originally had the shop, also keeps a close eye over us all.”

As for the new venture, Colleen added: “We are very lucky to have 25 very talented local artists and makers showcasing their work. We have a selection of painters, an illustrator, a printmaker, a recycling artist, a fabric and fibre artist, a paper collage artist, a leathermaker, a potter, a glass artist, a selection of epoxy resin artists and a selection of textile artists such as spinners, weevers, felters, knitters and crocheters. The shop looks amazing, even if I do say so myself.

“A ginormous thank you to my wonderful husband and all the gang that have been involved with the job, it’s been a big one but we've done it.”

The old Hawthorns shop has been opened and reopened under many guises over the years; anyone over 30 who grew up in Builth will fondly remember it as Cadbury’s, a confectioners and gift shop run by Builth town councillor Meryl Prynne for many years. But, before Colleen purchased it, it had always been leased. And after initially renovating a disused and rather ugly outside area into an outside dining area for Georgie Porgie’s when lockdown restrictions initially eased last summer, Colleen pushed ahead with her bold plans for Beautifully Bonkers.

Colleen said: “Everyone was obviously closed down over lockdown, then when the first reopening occurred, the coffee shop opened and outdoor seating was allowed.

“We were holding on really but we got a few grants and managed to keep it going by doing takeaways and various takeaway-themed nights. They were going to sell the shop (Hawthorns) so we had to buy it even though we didn’t want to because it seemed risky doing it during Covid.”

That took some guts and the new shop – styled like a Morocccan souk – is also a bold, some would say bonkers, move.

“We’re doing something really gutsy, but I think the town needs something like it,” added Colleen.

“So we now have the gallery, with people coming to see other people’s art. Builth is an old drovers town so I wanted to do something to do with textile artists, so it captures the essence of the local area, the art has something to do with the town and local people so it becomes their gallery.

“People will walk in, see things and recognise local places, like Hell Hole or the old High Street. I’ve got 22 artists so far, most local to Builth or Powys, some a bit further away, but all linked Wales or to me and the local theme.

“I don’t want them to just bring their stuff here to sell, I want them to sell work to do with the local area. I think that will give the shop a very personal feeling. Ultimately, I want to sell to local people, I want them to feel that the shop is part of their own heritage.

“Later down the line we’ll introduce workshops. Creativity is so massively trendy and fashionable right now, but it’s also on people’s minds with everyone’s mental health affected so much during the pandemic, so hopefully the workshops will provide them with something to help them through that.”