Sponsored by
This Life:Going solo
Sarah Lyles, 34, recently opened Attic, a clothing and lifestyle store in Ilkley, after giving up a high-powered career with clothing store Oasis.
Her job took her around the country launching stores and advising managers on the look and layout of their shops.
She has a degree in business and fashion management and lives in Rawdon with her husband Oliver and chocolate labrador Smith.
You have three seconds to get passers-by inside a shop, so the window display has to be good. If it doesn't grab them immediately, you've had it. Once a customer is inside the shop it's all about flow – there's a reason why bread and milk are always at the back of a supermarket
I'm married to a hairdresser but he also fitted out my shop for me, and he can cook a mean Sunday roast. You can't get better than that
I like Leeds, it has some great shops but I didn't want to open my shop there, it was too big a step. I thought Ilkley would be right, it's affluent and trendy and the right market for what I sell
I'm much more relaxed these days, part of the reason for opening the shop was to improve our quality of life.
Now I like to walk Smith, or just sit on the sofa and watch telly with Ollie, my working days were very long before.
My philosophy of life is just to go for it, follow your dream. I've always had big dreams, it's just the way I am. When I was 18 I decided I wanted to go to the London College of Fashion even though I had been working in a building society on a Youth Training Scheme, and I managed to get in.
I think it was because they could tell I wanted the place so much.
I'm a big fan of mood boards, I'm always making them. I took one with me to the bank to show them how my business would look. I took a business plan as well though.
My shop counter had to be the kind that would have stored the tights in Are You Being Served. I knew exactly what I wanted. Once I found it I stored it in the hall, we had to squeeze past it for months.
I had fittings piled up in the living room too,they looked just like a pile of rubbish but I knew exactly how I wanted the shop to look though, it had to be modern and vintage at the same time.
Every Sunday I would take the car and go off by myself on trips to salvage yards and car boot sales and come back with more stuff.
I would love to meet Coco Chanel and discover her inspirations and fashion secrets and also Patricia Field, the stylist on Sex And The City. I would also like to meet Simon Cowell, strangely I find him very attractive, I think it's the arrogance, plus Patricia Field could sort out his trouser situation because someone needs to.
The last time I cried was watching the Pride of Britain Awards show on the telly, they had me on the first one and I just cried all the way though. I cried when I was setting up my shop too, but that was out of frustration not sadness.
I loved my job with Oasis and I loved working on that big scale, but towards the end I started to think that I should be creating a fabulous shop for myself instead of for another company
I've had quite a few embarrassing moments. One of them happened at the end of a working day when I looked down at myself and realised I had been wearing my dress inside out all day. No one had told me. My mum was pretty embarrassing too. When I was about six she used to put my hair in rollers and a hair net and then make me ride round the street on my bike to dry it.
My first love was at primary school. He had blond curly hair – but I can't remember his name now, so I can't have liked him that much. I met Ollie in a bar in London while we were both working down there.
There was an England-Germany football match on and I could hear this northern voice shouting at the telly. Later that night he asked me out and so did a German guy but fortunately I chose Ollie.
When I was buying stock for my shop I bought what I liked myself, or what I could imagine my family and friends liking. The clothes are all brands you can't find anywhere else in the area, I have clothes, jewellery, accessories and lifestyle products
People might be surprised to learn that I once worked on the door of a nightclub turning people away. I'm five feet two and I must have been a size six at the time. If they didn't look right I wouldn't let them in. I once accidentally turned the act away.
The best piece of advice I ever received was always believe that anything is possible, never give up.
My dad tells me jokes. The other day he gave me some pears but told me to make sure they didn't all get together and start talking to each other – because they were conference pears.
Favorite things...
Food: Rice pudding
TV: Spooks
Author: John Grisham
Film: Breakfast At Tiffany's
Star sign: Libra
Email to a friend
Print this page
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Leeds
Thursday 24 May 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 10 C to 25 C
Wind Speed: 12 mph
Wind direction: North east
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 9 C to 21 C
Wind Speed: 16 mph
Wind direction: East
