Purple Pansy Home & Garden opens Christmas pop-up in Nicholsons Shopping Centre

A pop-up home and garden shop in the Nicholsons Shopping Centre is offering up unique gifts and items throughout the festive period.  

Purple Pansy Home & Garden has set up a temporary shop in the centre for several years and is back again this Christmas with an array of quirky products until the end of January.  

The business was set up more than 10 years ago by Ruislip resident Mark Simeone and his family and runs mainly online, with the team also attending shows up and down the country alongside the yearly pop-up in Maidenhead.  

The 63-year-old who runs the business with the help of his family and wife Yvonne Smith, said their venture in Maidenhead started by attending local markets.  

After a sell-out performance at a Maidenhead Christmas Lights Switch-On event and pop-ups in the town centre, the team, which also included his son Anthony, took a permanent unit in the shopping centre and spent two years trading there.   

Since leaving the premises, Purple Pansy has been back in the centre each Christmas, taking a different unit every time.  

This included two Christmases in the The Works unit (formerly Waterstones), which Mark said was when they ‘did the best’ because the unit was ‘massive’.  

Nevertheless, with the business opening its doors once again earlier this month at the large former Card Zone unit, the team is hoping to enjoy a good spell this year. 

The shop sells an array of items ranging from glowing garden ornaments and quirky tempered glass artworks to lanterns, Christmas lights, cushions, interior clocks, both festive and non-festive throws and children’s items such as rocking horses.  

“We've always been here as a pop-up for Christmas. We've been in lots of different shops over the years, whatever's available.

“We try and have the biggest one that we can, and we just do a nice mix of things. 

“Because we’ve been here on and off for so long, we’ve got loads of regular customers that come and see us. 

“We think this is our best pop-up that we’ve done this year, and the customers have said that as well. 

“People say they have to walk around the shop two or three times to see everything because they miss things on the first trip,” Mark said.  

He added: “We have numerous people saying it's their favourite shop in Maidenhead 

“Because what we offer is unusual.  

“If you want a Christmas gift for somebody, you’ve got choices.” 

Last year was the team’s ‘worst’ Christmas ever in the shopping centre because of the closure of the Broadway multi-storey car park, which saw sales down by 50 per cent, Mark explained.  

But with the announcement earlier this month of a new temporary car park opening at the site before Christmas, he is hoping for a better year.  

“We’ve the best offering we’ve ever had, but it’s only as good as the amount of people that come past the shop,” Mark said. 

Reflecting on the past few weeks since opening this year, Mark added that the ‘footfall has been quite good’, but the shop does most of its business in December, which is ‘very busy’.  

He added that the pop-up will be back next year.  

This month the shop is open Tuesday to Saturday from 10.30am to 4pm and on Sundays from 11am to 4pm.  

In December, the opening times will be 10am to 5pm seven days a week.