Deputy Business Editor Deborah Johnson finds out how Nicola Reading dealt with the collapse of wedding gifts firm Wrapit by starting out in business again.

FOR Nicola Reading, setting up a franchise with an established national company such as Wrapit seemed to remove some of the risks associated with starting out in business.

“I did feel a lot more security starting a franchise, in that I had this huge company behind me and was part of a national network of franchisees. If ever I needed help or support, it was there, and during the time I was with Wrapit, everything was fine. However, I never, ever thought it would end like it did,” she said.

After five years of successful trading with Wrapit, Mrs Reading was devastated to discover in August last year that the company had gone into administration.

Having run her own wedding list company before joining Wrapit, Mrs Reading’s experience ensured her own franchise became one of the strongest performers in the group – but that counted for very little when the group collapsed.

“It was a terrible time, absolutely awful. I had to let two of my four staff go, and I lost everything – thousands of pounds. I never, not for a second, believed anything like that would ever happen,” said Mrs Reading, who becomes visibly upset at her recollections.

“I had irate customers coming in wanting to know what would happen with their wedding lists and I really didn’t know what to do. I had no answers for them. No one talks to you when a company is in administration.

All I got was a letter – I felt totally helpless.”

However, as well as her Wrapit operation, Mrs Reading also ran her own gift shop, Bliss Gifts, from her premises in Duke Street, Darlington.

Although Wrapit had collapsed, she still felt there was life in the other part of her business.

“I had put my life savings into the business – I couldn’t just give up.

There was a time when me and my husband did consider very seriously winding up Bliss Gifts. But I realised that through my previous experience and through being involved in Wrapit, I had developed skills and knowledge of how to run a business. I could never imagine myself in a nine-to-five job, and loved what I did. I wanted to use that to continue running Bliss Gifts. I knew there was still life in it.”

That decision now looks to be paying off. Her store, which sells gifts for all occasions, is receiving increasing numbers of customers almost each week, and Mrs Reading – who has entered this year’s If We Can, You Can challenge – is now planning to launch the business online having secured a grant from Darlington Borough Council for 45 per cent of the cost.

“I just thought to myself that there will always be birthdays, there will always be christenings, so people will always need gifts.

“I think I have a talent for buying and sourcing unique and lovely gifts, and thankfully, despite what is happening in the world, our popularity does seem to be growing.

We are seeing an increase in footfall and we had a pretty strong Christmas, so I’m really pleased with what’s happened so far,” she said.

“I think the addition of the website is the next step to the growth of the business. It’s being designed as we speak, with a view to launching in June, but we hope to create something that’s as near to coming into the shop as we can. I have also got ideas about packaging and about our branding with gifts, so we can give Bliss Gifts a unique identity and people will know where their gift has come from.”

Mrs Reading credits her positive personality and her ordeal with Wrapit as being her inspirations to succeed.

“I’m a very positive person, and that has really helped me to pick myself up after everything happened with Wrapit. It was devastating working so hard for five years and then seeing your business fold through no fault of your own. The thought of having to go through that again fills me with dread and propels me on to make sure I do everything I can to succeed.”