Firm hoping to expand after success (From The Northern Echo)

Firm hoping to expand after success

9:12am Tuesday 2nd January 2007 in

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AN innovative business that brings a touch of Hollywood glamour to a town is looking to expand.

Wow Factor Autographs was started two-and-a-half years ago by Andrea Johnson.

What began as a small catalogue passed around local shops, cafes and hairdressers in Darlington is now a thriving online business with customers across the world.

Ms Johnson is now hoping to open a store selling her autographs and memorabilia when the new Commercial Street shopping precinct opens in Darlington in 2010.

She said: "It all started when my partner bought me a Richard Marx autograph 13 years ago and I started to develop my own personal collection.

"Then I went to America and I saw a shop that sold autographs and I was really inspired by it, so when I got back, I started to research how to set up a business."

Ms Johnson is a member the Universal Art Collectors Club, which has a strict code of ethics over the sale of autographs, ensuring that all are genuine.

One of her rarest autographs was a Queen News of the World LP signed by all the band members, including Freddie Mercury, which went to a Canadian collector for £700.

She said: "We get some really special autographs. A lot of the vintage ones are really nice.

"One of my favourites was an envelope signed by Lucille Ball in 1938, which was just before she became famous.

"It had a photograph taken at around the same time. It was really special, and I thought 'that's not going anywhere, I'm keeping that'.

"That's why we're called the Wow Factor. You might get five or six hundred autographs from one celebrity, but we want the one that stands ou; that's that little bit different."

For more information, visit www.wowfactorautographs. co.uk or call 01325-241680.