Viva Lewes Issue #126 March 2017

TRADE SECRETS
Lou Holmes
Skull and Feathers Antique Shop
How long have you been in the business? My
other half Jon’s been in the business 30 years. I’ve
been involved for the last two. We set up Skull and
Feathers in the Needlemakers in September after
having stalls at the Flea Market and the Emporium
for a year.
What’s the USP of your shop? Quirkiness. We
sell a lot of taxidermy. There’s a certain darkness
about the things we like, and we sell what we like.
Why did you come to Lewes? We live here! Jon’s
born and bred and I was brought up in Newhaven
and have been in Lewes 20-odd years.
Where do you source your stuff? All over. It’s
a 24-hour job. Car boot sales, house clearances.
We’ve also got a good client base we sell stock for,
but we’ve got to like what they’re offering.
How big is your team? It’s all in the family. John
does the buying, and I do the merchandising and
run the shop. Our two girls help me out on their
days off.
Does your living room look anything like
your shop? It looks very similar! There’s a lot of
overspill. There’s a stuffed zebra on the sofa at
the moment.
What’s the worst thing about your business?
It can get very cold in here. And the hours are
antisocial. You get people ringing at ten at night
sometimes.
And the best? Meeting the large variety of
wonderful clients who are attracted here. From the
elderly people to the little kids: “ooh look at that
swan, mummy!”
Where do they tend to come from? Social
media has been very good for letting people
know we’re here. A lot of people say that they live
‘round the corner’, but people come from London,
Hertfordshire, all over the place. There was even a
woman from Belgium. She bought the black bear.
The black bear? It was in the window for a
while. We sold it for someone else. That went for
thousands. The lady took it back to Belgium in the
back of a van. I still miss it.
Do you do your own stuffing? I’d love to, but
no! Most of the taxidermy we sell is Victorian, but
there’s an ethical taxidermist whose work we stock
who stuffs road-kill pheasants and foxes and the
like. The swan was stuffed about two years ago.
Is there room for more antique shops in town?
There’s always room. Just so long as they put their
own spin on things, and sell what they’re passionate
about. That’s the key, it doesn’t work otherwise.
If not Lewes where would you like to be trading?
Maybe in Kemptown. I think people would
be open to this sort of thing there.
What did you want to do when you were a
child? I wanted to be a dinner lady, to follow in
my mum’s footsteps.
Interview by Alex Leith
The Old Needlemakers, 07894302114,
Instagram: @skullandfeathers
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