Thirty years ago after opening its doors with just £300 of stock, a shop which sells everything from dreamcatchers to Doc Martens is going from strength to strength.

FOR a business they say wasn't planned, it seems to be doing remarkably well. Darlington's Guru is 30 years old this weekend. Thirty full years since Beryl Hankin and her mum Irene Maughan started the shop on a whim and an impulse and £300 worth of ethnic clothing and jewellery.

And in a town centre that's increasingly dominated by the same chain stores and multiples you find all over the country, it's still independent, individual and still going strong.

It's a shop that defies description - a bit of hippie, bit of Goth, skateboarder fashion and heavy metal T shirts, winsome china fairies, Doc Martens, dreamcatchers, aromatherapy, seventies wigs and one of the best selections of greetings cards in the town.

Over the years it has spread out of its original premises and grown into a mini department store, its crowded shelves overflowing with the off beat and unusual.

"I've always been fascinated by what we sell," says Beryl - as enthusiastic now as she was back in the early seventies.

"We're not what you would call hard-headed business people, we just get a kick out of finding new and exciting and original things to bring to Darlington."

Although there's a whiff of the sixties about the place - must be those joss-sticks - it has definitely moved with the times. Those young lads thumping up the narrow stairs are off to inspect the baggy jeans and hooded tops. But next to them is a rack of floaty Indian skirts, that their sisters, mothers or even grannies might wear. The shop even has kaftans.

"But we're not stuck in a time warp. We've kept our older customers, but we get the young ones in too," says Beryl. She and Colin - who looks after the clothing department - love music. "And a lot of what we sell is music led, all types. And we listen to the customers. The kids tell us what they want."

And at the moment that includes those hoodies, plus Sex Pistols T shirts, Goth black velvet dresses - "they sell well just before the festival in Whitby" - and pink Doc Martens - "we've sold those for weddings".

Downstairs at the back is the realm of Kelly McWilliams, who started at Guru as a Saturday girl. Now she's in charge of showcases of wonderful carved animals, fairies, some Lord of the Rings figures (some things don't change), and shelves full of aromatherapy oils.

There are things that people always get wrong about Guru. Tony Smith, another shop stalwart, is not married to Beryl - who is actually married to Ray, a retired teacher. Beryl is not a mystic: "haven't got a mystic bone in my body". And they're not ageing hippies either. "Though I suppose there's a bit of the hippy ideals there," she says.

What's disconcerting now is to find that the seventies, when they opened, is now an era for nostalgia. One of the downstairs rooms is given over to party stuff - banners and mugs and Life begins at 50 badges, rude jokes and naughty gifts. Across the shelves is a selection of wigs for all those seventies parties.

"People are very keen on fancy dress parties at the moment. Parties are big business," says Beryl.

And so are cards. There is a terrific collection of cards. Some of them are beautiful and unusual., many are funny and quirky. Some are funny and rude. Definitely cards for all occasions and all tastes. You can - and some people do - spend ages browsing.

"All we wanted was to offer something different, for people with a streak of adventure or individualism, stuff they'd enjoy buying - whether it's a card, a gift or some obscure rock band sweatshirt. And, somehow, it seems to have worked," says Beryl.

Here's to the next 30 years...

Beryl says the shop is like a family. And staff certainly seem to stay a long time.

"Don't forget our Saturday girls, "she says. "There have been some absolutely brilliant ones."

They included three sets of sisters: Rosalie Dobson (now training as a tree surgeon) and Angelica (now teaching English in Thailand). Christina and Georgi Bray; Kelly, Toyah and Sarah Johnstone.

"Kelly and her friend Uppinder Purewal (Pinny), were our Saturday girls for three years before going off to university and for the next year they both travelled back to Darlington every Saturday, Kelly on the overnight bus from London and Pinny from York, to see their parents and work in Guru," she says.

Kelly, now married and expecting her first baby is back in Darlington and back working full time in Guru.

The longest serving Saturday girl was Karen Wigglesworth - who did seven years and the only Saturday person who became an actor is Patrick Miller, now based in London, and who has appeared in several TV plays and series and is currently in Byker Grove..

* Guru is in Blackwellgate, Darlington.