Mount Gambier’s Bare Necessities Lingerie has reached a milestone of 10 years in business and the staff are inviting customers to celebrate with surprises in-store.
Customers can enjoy 20% off store-wide from today until November 8 along with special treats and daily giveaways.
The store stocks a diverse range of intimate apparel including lingerie, shapewear, sleepwear and swimwear and the sale is also a great opportunity for Christmas shopping.
Ten years ago, Mount Gambier resident Sharon Tuffnell opened the doors to her own independent lingerie business and equipped with 30 years of experience in the industry and a passion for supporting women in the community, Bare Necessities Lingerie was born.
“I love what I do, that is why I come to work,” Mrs Tuffnell said.
Mrs Tuffnell worked as the sole front-of-house staff member for almost 13 months with Helen Hall working on the number crunching before introducing Sheryn Wilson, Josie Oschar and Kirby Carrison to the team as the business grew.
Over the last decade the city bussiness has also employed three junior school casuals.
Mrs Wilson has worked at Bare Necessities for nine years and has 50 years of experience in the industry, while Mrs Oschar has worked at the store for two and a half years and Mrs Carrison for 18 months.
“They work so well as a team, they are amazing,” Mrs Tuffnell said.
“I am very lucky, right through the 10 years, we have had really amazing staff who have all put in the effort to continue what I feel passionate about and that is the importance of the fitting of a bra and great customer service.”
Bare Necessities Lingerie outgrew its former ‘little store’ at 69 Commercial Street West with a move made two doors down to a larger store at 65 Commercial Street West last year.
Mrs Tuffnell said it was important to maintain continuity of the store interior when they moved so customers were familiar with the setting.
“Creating that really warm and inviting environment for people to come into,” she said.
“The growth of the business has come through hard work, lots of talking to customers, finding out what they want and changing as trends change, to a point, but still sticking to the classic styles that you cannot get in a lot of places.”
Mrs Tuffnell said highlights could be both major milestones and the little things each day, such as helping a customer who had been struggling with finding the right bra.
“That could be the highlight, seeing someone go out completely changed because they are now wearing a correctly fitted and more comfortable bra,” she said.
Mrs Tuffnell said Mount Gambier had fabulous small businesses and encouraged people to support them so they could continue to provide services for the community.
“Mount Gambier is so lucky to have such lovely independent retailers,” she said.
“We are grateful for the patronage we have from our customers and communities in our region.”
Bare Necessities Lingerie is open 9am to 5pm from Monday to Friday and 9am to 12pm on Saturdays.
