Victorian Shop and Parlour opens today for season

After taking a more local approach to the shop in the past few years, the National Trust is hoping to appeal to islanders as well as tourists.

‘We’ve made it an interesting place where people can come to look as well as to shop,’ said shop manager Caroline Drake.

‘It’s not just a tourist shop here anymore, we’ve got a lot of products from small businesses in the British Isles.’

The shop is located in a town house in Cornet Street and was taken over by the Trust in 1983 to preserve an aberrant era in Guernsey’s history.

‘Cornet Street pre-WWII was not salubrious, there was so much life and it was loud, and in the late 1800s census there were 37 people living in this house with just one outdoor toilet – it was just a completely different world,’ said Ms Drake.

‘That’s what is so lovely about this building is it’s been preserved so you can get a bit of a feel of what the shops would have been like back then.

‘It’s the sort of place we don’t have here anymore, and it’s keeping a bit of old Guernsey so we can appreciate and understand the history.’

The theme of the shop this year is wild flowers, however there is a royal stance to honour the Jubilee, and the Coronation crockery is on display.

‘There is a very strong focus on the unusual here,’ said Trust vice-president Sara Lampitt.

‘It’s a lot of work looking after the shop, but Caroline makes it look so effortless.

‘We’re trying to get people to question whether it is a shop within a museum or a museum within a shop.’

A promising season is on the cards for the shop, and alongside the Folk and Costume Museum, it is one of the most income-heavy of the trust’s public visitor sites.

‘With tourists and cruise ships bringing people back to the island, we’re hopeful for a successful season,’ said Ms Drake.

n The shop will be open until Saturday 8 October, and is open 10am to 4pm, Monday to Saturday.