Dannevirke: Dresses have been 'flying out the door'

Sharleen Coll, Senior Sergeant Nathan Davis and Hamish Ilsley at the first $500 draw for the Stay Calm Shop in Dannevirke promotion.

Hours before Judy Edmonds opened Dannevirke's first pop up store on High St on Friday afternoon enthusiastic shoppers had invaded Charlie Girl Boutique.

Open for market day and just this week, Judy said the response had been fantastic and a huge endorsement for her decision to import girls' dresses which she normally sells online.

"Dresses have been flying out the door since I opened," she said.

Ill-health meant Judy had to give up her wedding photography business and 12 months ago she launched Charlie Girl.

"I don't have girls and I don't wear dresses, but I had a stall at the Totara College expo and had really good feedback which was encouraging. All my friends have boys, but unfortunately it's harder to get cute boys' stuff, so I'll stick with buying for girls."

With her home photo studio now converted into an area for dresses, Judy often has little girls visit her country home to try on their favourites.

"They have so much fun and for their mums it's a fail-safe way to shop and buy something different. I resize the dresses I import and make sure the quality is good, so it takes the guess-work out of the process," she said.

Charlie Girl Boutique was one of 34 stalls on High St on Saturday, with everyone positive about the day, Sue Berry of the Dannevirke Chamber of Commerce said.

"For me it was common sense to move our annual market day from October to today because the weather was always diabolical in October.

"This market day is an innovation we can grow from. I think the response has been very good considering we're not in the best of economic times."

Helen Exeter, of Just Gifts, said while Saturday's market day got off to a slow start, numbers had built closer to the start of the Christmas Parade at noon.

"Unfortunately it seemed as though shoppers just drifted away after the parade and didn't take advantage of High St being closed until 1.30pm."

However the market day did attract many people into the town's cafes, with Red Sky Cafe bulging at the seams and one market stall selling homemade goodies reported making $300. The magic was happening at the Fantasy Cave too, with 300 visitors through on Saturday and up to 200 on Sunday.

-The winner of the Chamber of Commerce $500 shop and win voucher drawn as part of market day was Chrissy O'Connor. The second $500 draw will be held at the clock tower at 11am this Saturday.