Founder followed dream to open shop on Northants high street after three years of watching from the sideline
Meet the founder who followed her dream to open a shop on a Northamptonshire high street after three years of watching from the sideline.
Cécile Harris opened The Slow Life on Watling Street in Towcester in November 2025, which specialises in gifts, homeware and antiques at the bricks and mortar store and online.
It is now open from 11am until 3pm from Wednesday to Friday and 10am until 2pm on Saturdays, after Cécile took the plunge to open a physical store six months on from launching The Slow Life online.
Cécile’s background is in e-commerce and online marketing, but admits she had been watching Towcester’s high street for three years having moved to the area the year before that.
“It was always my dream to have a shop,” Cécile told the Chronicle & Echo. “I wondered why no one was doing this, Towcester needs it. It’s never the right time so when this unit came up, I knew it was now or never. We’ll never be perfect so let’s go for it.
“I’ve always been working and selling online and it’s a lonely place. I was craving exchange and community and as a woman in my mid-forties, there never seems to be anything for us.”
Cécile is passionate about working with small businesses across the UK to offer a curation of products you would not find anywhere else but in The Slow Life. The shop sells creations from small makers, as well as antique and vintage pieces.
“The Slow Life is like a living room you want to spend more time in,” said the founder. “People tell me this was needed. It’s been received very well as there’s nothing like it. People get inspiration for gifts and come back to buy them.
“Towcester has been very welcoming but it’s early days and people still don’t know I’m here – as they don’t come to the high street as much as they should.”
Cécile’s favourite thing about running a shop at the heart of Towcester is the people she strikes conversation with and the stories she hears.
“It’s lovely to have the exchange and provide the place to do that,” she said. “I’m an open ear to like-minded people and the customers talk to each other too.
“It’s a very small shop in the middle of the high street, opposite the post office and Town Hall, and between a popular coffee shop and butchers. The location is ideal.”
When asked her proudest achievement since launching her bricks and mortar store, Cécile said: “To open it is quite brave in the current economy and I’m really happy it’s paying off. It’s risky when you look at business rates, costs and that people are looking to save money.”
Cécile is giving herself a year to grasp exactly what the community wants from The Slow Life and the level of footfall she can expect as she settles into Towcester. She wants to give back to the community by offering workshops, and wonders whether she needs more space to make that a reality.