A mum from Clacton who gave up her 14-year career as a carer to launch her own venture during lockdown is now seeing her baby business boom.

Gemma Veale who decided to take the plunge and launch Little’Uns in September 2020 is now opening a second and bigger store in the popular Clacton Shopping Village.

It means all 22 units at the village are now taken and the mall continues to buck national shopping trends as footfall and sales rocket – in the first five weeks of this year shopper numbers were up two per cent on 2022 and sales have grown by a third to over £1.5 million.

When she opened Little’Uns in 2020 Gemma had been quickly inundated with online orders from parents unable to get out due to coronavirus restrictions and since then, the 34-year-old’s shop in the town centre has gone from strength to strength.

Now the mum-of-two is opening her second – and much bigger unit – in the shopping village, expanding its stock from clothing for babies and children aged up to five, to selling prams from brands including iCandy, Joie and Doona and nursery equipment and furniture.

Gemma, Tendring Council’s first ever Women in Business Award Winner, said: “I’d been a care worker for 14 years but I’d always wanted to run my own business. It was only when we went into lockdown that I decided to take the plunge and do it – I thought, if I don’t do it now, I never will.

“I was very nervous about it at first, I’m not going to lie, but we built a website overnight and we were quickly inundated with orders from new mums who couldn’t get out of the house.

“But even when the restrictions were lifted, we had plenty of customers coming into the shop. We were just selling clothes at the time but many of them asked about us stocking other items such as prams and nursery furniture, so we did.

“From then, it just snowballed massively and now we’re open seven days a week.”

Gemma, who lives in Clacton with her husband and two daughters, ended up having to sacrifice her stock room to have a wall removed in order to fit in all the new stock and create a nursery area.

Now her second store at Clacton Shopping Village will allow her to increase her range even further and she added: “We ended up outgrowing our original unit and expanding from just myself to a team of seven members of staff, it’s been fantastic and we’ve got some lovely loyal customers.

“It’s great to be able to help increase the footfall to the town and offer a lot more variety on top of the existing brands we’ve already got, which include Venicci, icklebubba, MyBabiie, Inglesina, Red Kite and Graco. And of course, we still offer nationwide delivery on our website.

“It was a gamble but it’s paid off – people will always have babies and need baby items.”

Leanne Pfrang, Operations Manager for Clacton Shopping Village, said: “It’s great to announce that the Shopping Village is full with all the units here taken and very positive footfall and sales figures.

“We’re especially glad to welcome Little’Uns, another local independent store, to the Shopping Village as it continues the trend of new openings here.

“We have major retailers such as Home Bargains and JD Sports and have also seen a steady stream of local independents opening and this is very much in keeping with the retail offer of the town.

“Our role in helping businesses start up and grow has been important and we have seen shops like Little’Uns establish themselves and go from strength to strength.

“The shopping village plays a major part in the economy of the town and surrounding area with over 250 people employed here in what is a real shopping hub.”

Gemma’s second Little’Uns store will open on March 18.

For more information, visit www.little-uns.co.uk and for more what’s happening at Clacton Shopping Village go to https://www.clactonshoppingvillage.com/