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Wednesday 10am - 4pm Thursday 10am - 4pm Friday 10am - 4pm Saturday 10am - 4:30pm

http://www.instagram.com/thestorkandthereafter

The Stork & Thereafter, Post House Wynd, Darlington (2026)

02/06/2025

Apologies, again, for the radio silence. I suspect people were expecting a much timelier update, but a pesky EDS flare up put pay to that (add in a wild 3yr old, it's a perfect storm. Holiday Club DEFINITELY being booked, next term 😅).

As many of you were aware, I had made an offer on our previous unit, in Queen Street. They had taken longer than hoped to respond, so I only received their response around the week of closing the Post House Wynd shop. QS latterly responded with two counter offers. As my head was so full with trying to get everything cleared, I decided to put everything remaining into storage, and use our long-awaited holiday in Spain as a better time to consider these offers, on a well-rested head.

Well, that holiday to Spain wasn't the epitomy of 'well rested', let's say 🫣 (crazy unforeseen sleep shenanigans from the rugrat, that we are STILL dealing with, now 🥲). But a decision was made - unfortunately, in the end, I didn't feel able to take the risk with Queen Street's counter offers. As there are no other appropriate options, it means The Stork & Thereafter is saying 'goodbye', for good 💔. It's a bittersweet decision, but one that I feel is probably right for my family, in the long term.

I am in no way seeing this as a failure. We were profitable every single month, bar one, and I leave with no debt 🙌

I hope I've given some of you food for thought, when it comes to considering or choosing more sustainable and/or ethical choices, when shopping. I know that won't be everyone - or even most, tbh- but my passion for local, second hand shopping is still as fiercely strong as it ever was - if not more.

Most significantly, I've made some beautiful connections with people, that may even turn into more established friendships, long-term. I've loved meeting your gorgeous babies & children - I'm a one & done mum, but absolutely adore babies, plus the randomness and quirks of kids (except the 10yr old child who jumped into the cot, with dirty trainers 🥹😵‍💫...). . As a people person, those aspects have been my biggest pleasure ❤️.

With all my heart, thankyou for supporting my little adventure, these last 2 1/2 + years 🥰🕊️

07/05/2025

Someone have a word with mother nature, please 🙏. Virtual state of hypothermia today 😰! Well, that might be a hyperbolic overstatement, but it's definitely NOT an understatement to say there are LITERALLY 100s of bargains to be had, atm...plus many reasonably priced items, too 😏😁

05/05/2025

OPEN TUESDAY 10AM -2.30PM

It's our final week at PHW, so we thought we'd open on our usual closed day 😃. I have an early nursery pick up of the rascal, so it will be an earlier finish than normal, but I'm not planning to take a lunch break -hurrah 😁 (other than a quick 5 min stretch of the legs, anyway 😝!).

In terms of Queen Street. We still don't have an answer, so still no clearer re: if I'll be needing to sell off our hardware, or not 🙈🙃 Gah to the limbo!

02/05/2025

°💔 FINAL WEEK AT PHW 💔°

We are now heading towards our final week at our Post House Wynd residence 🏠- our last 'open' day will be Saturday 10th May, with availability for collection of unsold stock/reserved items up until the 14th.

I am still unsure if this is the very end for us - or if we might be moving back to Queen Street. Despite chasing answers on the offer I put forward, as of this evening (Friday), I still have no update, whatsoever 🙈😩. Tbh, I really needed to know earlier this week as - if this is the end of us - I need to sell all the shop hardware (furniture, rails, hangers etc) ASAP, as there's not room to swing a cat in our home 🤭, nevermind a truck-load of shop fittings 🙃. If you might be interested in any of the items (including the cot, table, shelves, as well) feel free to send a message over!

Truth be told, I am just ready for a much needed break 🙌. Self employment has many pros, but it can also be intense and all consuming - the fact that you have no paid holiday, sick pay or cover is an immeasurable burden, at times. For that reason, I am taking the attitude of "what will be, will be".

For the moment, we still have HUNDREDS of items on the shop floor. There's been some recent reductions on locally made stock, since taking these photos, plus all maternity/nursing wear is NOW 30% OFF. There will be multiple other offers/reductions running, next week, so keep check of our stories for details 😊!

I've also FINALLY managed to get out the brand new Cublife Clothing stock, that we purchased off House of Zana, upon their closure. This had been on my to do list for the last 5 months. If only I had another 10 pair of hands and another 244677hrs in the day, it *might* have been sooner...maybe 🫣. If you love monochrome or neutrals, their pieces will be up your street. I've put out one size of each item we have, with the other sizes available noted on the tag. Thete are also beautiful fleece blankets available in the range, too 🥰!

09/04/2025

°WE ARE 2 1/2 YEARS OLD!°
..as of yesterday, anyway 🥳. It's been a whole 30 months of running TS&T so, I of course utilised a photo of Max, at 30 month old, as the primary image for the post 🥰 (bizarrely, I have very few photos of him at said age, so the back of his head will have to do 🤭). However - digressing - it's probably a better time, than never, to let you know that we will be closing our doors - at our current PHW location - in just under 5 weeks time (when the lease ends). We may - or may not be - relocating 💔.

I'll be brutally honest. It's been a really difficult few months, financially. I honestly thought moving to a very central part of town would be our making - but that hasn't been the case. We have the occasional very busy day, but I'm finding we are having a lot more days where we get less than 10 people through the door. I am not going to lie - sometimes it feels incredibly soul destroying.

There are things we could have maybe done better - replacing the wooden signage & having the shop's decals on both windows, not just one. However, they'd been left / left blank for good reason as, originally, myself & Paul (owner of So Unique) were going to share the shop 1/2 & 1/2. As the months passed, Paul realised he wasn't going to have capacity to put that plan into action & I just never felt it was a major issue, to address. If this has had a major impact, who knows, but there's been many other factors that are likely higher in the mix; the increasing popularity & convenience of Vinted, plus the loss of easy footfall from our previous proximity to Hartbeeps and Curiositeas Play Cafe, likely being 2 major ones (if you're a newer customer, we were originally based in Queen Street Shopping Centre).

I am still a huge advocate of the high street & in-person, shopping. Last year, I probably bought items, online, a literal handful of times. For me, shopping is a social experience, but being business savvy is realising that your behaviours/preferences are NOT necessarily that of your target audience. And, so, comes the questions: is a physical consignment shop still viable? Do I even want to try online, only? Atm, the jury is out 🙈!

20/03/2025

°🐇HELLO SPRING 🐣°

We are officially in Spring, as of today (well, by the astronomical definition, anyway 🤓🤭)!

We're also exactly one month away from Easter, too. It falls almost 3 weeks later, this year, as opposed to last 🗓️. Needless to say, I am behind, as ever 🙈. But our larger window finally started its turnaround, today - think lots of pastels, bunnies, chicks and anything Easter related 🙌. I'll be stringing up these cute snap cards from the ceiling, as well as displaying Sarah's gorgeous pastel-hued mini canvases (each one comes with its own little easel 🥹❤️), which will be available to buy, from this weekend.

But let's not brush over the other- even closer - diary date: Mother's Day. Falling, this year, on Sunday 30th of March - its the perfect time to highlight 'Mama' adorned fidget/teething necklaces 👶🏻. A present for both you - and baby 😝 Through some hellish coincidence, however, the day coincides with the clocks going forward. For any mothers of young children, that means only one thing: we lose one precious hour of sleep 😫🫠...

06/03/2025

°WBD '25 📚 & COMPETITION TIME°

As a primary aged child, we used to visit the library a lot (it was free & we always enjoyed it), but I don't think we were ever read to, by mum or dad. In contrast, we've read to Max since he was a young baby, pretty much every night since he was 1 year old; he now gets 3 stories a night, most nights. Saying that, he was very hit & miss, in terms of interest/engaging, until he turned 3 - that's when he really took an interest in books & story-time.

I read a lot as a child, but ALWAYS preferred non-fiction, over fiction. As an adult, this is still the case (I've probably only read 8 fiction books, in adulthood). Tbh, I feel the most important aspect is reading, per se, not the genre. All reading builds vocabulary & knowledge, evolves comprehension & can improve spelling & grammar. As a child, however, it felt like I was penalised. At school, we were only allowed to access the non-fiction section once we'd read something like 4x the amount of fiction. Despite having the reading age of a 15 year old at age 9, I was placed on a reading report, as it was felt I wasn't reading fiction at pace, if left to my own devices. However, I LOVED reading newspapers & history books & developed a love of writing, through these. English was always a favourite subject & I went on to study English Language at A-Level. Did you know that a recent research study found that just a 1/3 of kids love reading at 7, but this falls to 29% at 10, then even further, by 11 (just 25%). Maybe if we adapt the narrative - that reading is not just about novels or fiction - levels may improve?

Here are some of our current/all time favourite kids' books or authors. The Alfie books are firm favourites, as Max is the embodiment of Alfie. He just loves being outdoors - in the garden, beach etc - getting his hands dirty, collecting 'treasures' & just being a curious & imaginative soul 🥰.

Want to take a guess at how many children's books Max actually has? There's a £5 voucher waiting for the closest guess 😁🙌 (nb: ends midnight 11th March). Tip: I'm a sucker for a book, but do try to move some on, as I buy more 🤭

04/03/2025

°JOG ON, LOVE 👋°

Admission: my husband quite literally 'hisses' at the .darlington social run group, who run past our house, on a Monday night (FYI: it's free and there's usually well over 120 people 🤯). He thankfully hisses from inside, so they probably never realise 🤭 (soz, guys, nonetheless, from his eye-rolling wife 🙃). You see, it's all related to Tom's bitterness at never quite getting into the 'running bug'. He made a valiant attempt during covid lockdown but, let's just say, it didn't give him the endorphin rush that so many others achieve 😅🙈.

Anyhow, I digress...If you/your partner are a keen runner, or want to keep fit, post-pregnancy, then this birth-5 years system from Baby Jogger might be for you 🙌. It's in FAB condition, to boot 😍!

The Baby Jogger Summit X3 can be used as a jogging buggy from 9m, onwards (though it also states 6 months, in their FAQs 🤔).

Despite the brand's name, this is actually their ONLY running buggy, in their current collection. It comes highly regarded, being the Sports Pushchair Gold Award winner at the 2022 Awards. Indeed, it achieved a 5/5 score in their acclaimed thorough review process (search online, to read full review).

The RRP of the stroller, alone, is £529 (current cheapest selling price appears to be £474) but, the version we have, comes with added bassinet and footm**f. The bassinet comes with adapters, to fit it with ease to the stroller frame (FYI: the stroller can actually be used from birth, if it's laid flat 🙌). The sellers utilised a Mamas & Papas grey textured Ocarro foot m**f, as a winter add-on to the stroller. The bassinet and footm**f each sell new for £140 & £60. The whole package is out at offers in the region of £275, saving you just short of £400 ❤️.

Key features:

*All-wheel suspension.

*Handlebar operated front wheel lock.

*Hand-operated deceleration brake.

*Padded reclining seat

*Vented seat top to increase airflow when reclined.

*Side vents, increase air circulation.

*Large under-seat storage basket.

*Air filled rubber tyres.

*One hand fold.

*UV 50+ canopy with peek-a-boo window - keeps child shaded while allowing easy check in.

*Suitable up to 22 kg (48.5lb).

01/03/2025

THE NUMBERS ARE IN:
..and we managed to make it over the £200 mark, this evening 🎉!

A huge thankyou to those who kindly donated stock, bought items, or made a monetary donation 🥰. In 2024, Leo’s lost 80% of their income, due to reductions in grants, fundraising & donations. This had a huge impact, with some services having to be cut or paused, indefinitely.

Thankfully, things are looking up, this year 🙌. They are reinstating their community groups for children/families with NICU experience, this month. They are also expanding their services: within the last 2 weeks, they have announced a new service, aimed at those who have experienced birth trauma, no matter how long ago (they have a dedicated page, . Please read the attached captioned photos for more details of both aforementioned resources) ❤️

28/02/2025

°FINAL 2 DAYS!°

We are now into our final few days of raising money for Leo’s, a local charity that supports families and children who have spent time in NICU/SCBU in the last 7yrs ❤️. We have been fundraising for them over the last month, raising around £170, so far, through our in-store charity jumble sale, but we are currently auctioning off as many remaining items as possible, online, with ANY offers being accepted. Items include this Mamas & Papas pram, as well as another 50 items, which are saved on our Instagram page's 'highlight' section - more going on tonight 🙌. I'd love us to pass the £200 mark for them, as we close our fundraiser at 9pm, Saturday night ❤️.

We are open 10am-4.15pm, today & tomorrow, if anyone wants to look at any items or buy in person ☺️. I can also post, if postage is covered 🙌!

A bit about Leo's - borne out of lived experienced of NICU care, premature birth and - very sadly- baby loss, the charity was created in 2018, with the aim to support the mental health & wellbeing of parents and families in Teesside & County Durham, who have experienced - or are currently experiencing -any or all of these scenarios (this includes families who have had full-term babies, who require/d NICU/SCBU care).

The charity offers a huge range of support, including in-person and virtual peer support, self-care boxes, sensory-aware & touch-focused baby classes, swim classes that can accommodate NG tube & oxygen dependent babes, as well as hosting play sessions, specifically for those who have experienced NICU care in the last few years. They are also hoping to set up a birth trauma service for ANYONE that has experienced a difficult birth.

Sadly, late last year, the charity announced they were having to halt their neonatal counselling and trauma therapy services, owing to a lack of donations and funding - the charity lost 80% of its previous funding level, last year 💔. Having been well aware of EMDR therapy (one of the therapies utilised) in my previous career, I know just how invaluable trauma focused therapy can be.. Hopefully, this fundraiser may help with funds to reinstate & support their services.

24/02/2025

Just a reminder that we are indeed open, today (MONDAY), owing to taking my birthday off, on Wednesday (feel free to guess my age 🤭🎂) . I'm popping out for a quick bite to eat, in a sec, but will be back, just after 1pm. Open until 4.30, today 🥰. Closed, as normal, tomorrow.

I may be getting a tad lonely, here. I've had zero sales, so far, and only 2 very quick browsers, so come say 'hello' , even if there's no intention of buying 😅. A quiet morning means I've been able to get all reductions done 😁

The Stork & Thereafter

02/06/2025

07/05/2025

05/05/2025

02/05/2025

09/04/2025

20/03/2025

06/03/2025

04/03/2025

01/03/2025

28/02/2025

24/02/2025

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Wednesday	10am - 4pm
Thursday	10am - 4pm
Friday	10am - 4pm
Saturday	10am - 4:30pm