Northampton town centre business replaces homeware store with event space to meet growing demand
A Northampton town centre business has replaced its homeware store with an event space to meet the growing demand from the community for their quirky and innovative offerings.
Grandbies, which opened in St Giles’ Street in August 2023, aimed to create a Scandinavian-inspired haven with a coffee house, clothing boutique and a space for the community to gather under one roof.
The business was founded by Marion Brown, but is truly a family affair – with two of her children playing important roles as business development managers.
One of Marion’s children is Vanessa Brown, who has a long-standing career as a musician under the name of V V Brown.
V V is one of the business development managers, alongside her brother, musician and social media influencer Benji Brown, and spoke to this newspaper about the business’ exciting next steps.
The Grandbies team has been successful in adding a luxury coffee shop to Northampton, while also offering a family-friendly environment and a commitment to the community.
It was not long after the opening that the family expanded with a second premises a few doors down in St Giles’ Street, which began as a homeware store. However, following demand from the community, this has now been converted into a dedicated event space.
“Our events were growing and selling out,” said V V. “We realised the seating wasn’t efficient and we decided to pivot the business and expand. Events are what people were requesting.”
Grandbies now has a “packed” calendar of events, with consistency in what the community can expect every week and month moving forward.
The team is proud to offer activities for children and adults alike, which V V described as “innovative, creative and different from the norm”.
Just one example of an activity for children during the recent Easter holidays was making and decorating ice lollies.
Among their latest offerings for adults is a remote working club, with the aim of tackling loneliness experienced by freelancers and those who work from home. This drinks subscription encourages them to venture out when working.
Grandbies is working hard to establish itself as the “number one hotspot for matcha in Northampton” and people travel from afar for the ‘Catcha Matcha Club’ – which costs £40 per month for unlimited matcha drinks.
“Nothing has really changed,” said V V. “We’ve always been about community, events, coffee, food and bringing people together. We’ve reinvented what we already had to accommodate the expansion.
“We’ve stepped up our game and our calendar is fully booked. We’d like to become the number one hotspot for cake, coffee and events.”
V V believes it is Grandbies’ creativity in everything they do that customers like most about the business. The team has been praised for bringing something visitors would expect to see in London to Northampton.
Since opening a year-and-a-half ago, Grandbies has also expanded its menu with “delicious and top-end, deli-like cafe food” – which V V says attracts many foodies.
“Everything is curated with care and elegance,” she said. “Grandbies is a form of therapy for people. With the way society is right now, we help them to unwind.”