After an exciting couple of weeks of training and shopfitting, I feel the new team at Bridgemere have really bonded and everything is coming along nicely in the new store.

We are lucky enough to have a team of staff from varied backgrounds; everyone has different strengths and weaknesses, and enjoys different activities. We've had our ups & downs over the past couple of weeks, but I'm so proud of the whole team for their efforts.

Our first week of training was based at the Crown Hotel in Nantwich- a lovely quirky old building with wonky staircases and slanting floors, but great food and service. I missed some of the training as I had to be in the store to let the workmen in & out, but went to as much of it as I could as I was keen to get to know the people I'd be working with. There was a hill day on the Friday which unfortunately I missed, but I did manage to get out and go for a walk myself to enjoy the sunshine.

The Birmingham store provided a warm welcome for our second week of training- a great opportunity to examine the product in store and see how efficiently a Cotswold store runs. We had a lot to cover in  a short period of time, which means continued development in-store is crucial. The team at Birmingham were really helpful and made life a lot easier as we were training the new staff.

I'm really glad we all get on well- we're such a varied team but we work to each others' strengths & get on just fine.

After Birmingham it was time to get everyone into the new store and make their mark on it- with help from the visual merchandising team. The store looks fantastic and I keep spotting new things or different displays that I've not noticed before, to keep the smile on my face.

Wednesday was the big day- we opened the doors at 11am, the Mayor cut the rope to open the shop and we had sandwiches and bucks fizz at the ready for customers, and goody bags for the first 100 sales!

It was a bit hectic to start with as we'd had a few issues with phone lines & internet, so the tills weren't working for a few hours, but we coped fine and the IT department worked hard to get us up & running properly.

Sales have been going really well, and we are starting to see what items wil sell very well and what we need to order more of already!

Both our vehicles are now running and we're settling in well to our little country cottage :-) It's been a long week so now  I think it's time to kick back with a slice of pizza and a good book- then maybe a short bimble through the woods before it gets dark :-)

Check out the Bridgemere store page for news and information: http://www.cotswoldoutdoor.com/Bridgemere