ZigZags in the Shropshire Star

Independent arts and crafts shop saved from closure thanks to vet's intervention By Megan HoweTelfordPublished: Jul 12, 2022.

A former vet has taken on the adventure of running an arts and crafts shop in the centre of a Shropshire town after it was threatened with closure. ZigZags in Newport has been taken over by Rose Palmer and she is looking to get the shop back on the map after it was threatened with closure

Rose Palmer took on ZigZags in St Marys Street, Newport, after its previous owner made the decision to retire and was expected to cease trading at the end of March last year. Having graduated from university 15 years ago, Rose decided to give up clinical work as a farm and equine vet to take on ZigZags and prevent its closure. The mum-of-three said: "It’s a lovely shop in a thriving market town and I always like to support independent small businesses. "But also because since having long Covid since March 2020 I can no longer manage the physical demands of my profession – that of being a large animal farm and equine vet.

"I have quite a strong creative streak as well – doing lots of music and dancing, crossstitching cards for my granny’s birthdays and sewing with my mum. "Being creative took a back seat for a while until I managed to turn a section of the spare bedroom into a sewing space. "Prior to Covid, a lot of evenings (if it wasn’t gardening weather) would be spent on various projects, especially sewing clothes for the children."

Rose made the decision to change directions in her career when she saw that the shop was going to close, and has already been enjoying meeting her customers. "Everyone has said how glad and grateful they are that the shop hasn’t shut," Rose added. "I’m looking forward to seeing how I can grow the business and have lots of ideas for workshops, particularly offering something for school aged children alongside the traditional mix of workshops that ZigZags offers."

ZigZags stocks more than 300 bolts of quilting fabrics and Rose has introduced a capsule range of dressmaking fabrics. Customers have been invited to browse the major dressmaking pattern catalogues, with patterns available to order to the shop. Rose has also introduced the full colour range of DMC stranded cotton and the Sirdar Happy Cotton range which is ideal for amigurumi, the Japanese art of creating small yarn creatures.

Rose is currently working on a varied calendar of workshops ready for Autumn and Christmas and will be having a Christmas launch evening at the start of September.