A Summer’s Day in Canterbury
Don’t worry, we’re still heading to the King’s Mile — things have just been quite busy with me lately. None the less, I finally had a few hours to myself on Sunday and headed off into town…
Had a chat with one of the BID ambassadors last week, when passing by our Oxfam store; CanterburyBID provides significant vocal support and awareness to Canterbury’s populated charity sector. Understandably the main focus is on the business community, but their charity work is just as important too. I and the rest of the team in Best Lane always felt very welcomed and supported by BID; before the creation of BID it seemed slightly “us verses them” in Canterbury. Now we seem to feel apart of a wider community, which is beneficial.
This is what I tend to review in my head, when taking a lonely walk on a Sunday morning; future of the city, general anxiety about my place and trying to make a positive impact. It is a odd statement to express, but it is true. Again, I think CanterburyBID has helped significantly in changing the mindset within the city and built a more community focused approach to tackling common challenges.
But the lonely walks do have a positive influence on me; since starting YouCanterbury, I find myself being more patience and not rushing throughout the city. I take time to appreciate the little things and seek out community events more. Everything I purchase is from a local shop now; the Cathedral Quarter, the first distract I visited, has always stayed with me. Learned a lot from the people I met and spoke to, even if I remain very nervous when speaking to business owners. Antoine & Lili was one of the stores in question, where I was too nervous to introduce myself yet there was so much I wanted to ask.
Fashion, visual merchandising, modelling, goals and the competition from national chains. Urgh, there was so much I desired to know but was just too shy.
As I said in the blog entry, I just adore how colourful the store is and how you’re unable to find anything like it in Canterbury. It is just different and I love it; the presentation just encourages you to consider buying something.
In general, the Cathedral Quarter social media strategy is just perfect. It’s flawless. Cannot find a single fault with it. Social media can be quite the tough act; I volunteer 30 hours running a charity’s Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram with one other person, who only does 4 hours(ish) — so I appreciate the creative effort from the Cathedral Quarter.
It’s not easy.
That’s probably why I fell in love with the Cathedral Quarter and find myself walking down there every Sunday; the passion from everyone involved is so real. I was very touched by all the private messages, thanking me for commenting on their shops. Yes, my main social media and marketing work has taken a priority at the moment, but I’m happy with YouCanterbury.
Going for a long walk around Canterbury helped a lot and allowed me to reflect on a few things. This entry is a little different, but may be a personal addition now and again is not a bad thing. Do you agree?
