An award-winning independent store in Cwmbran Shopping is celebrating a successful quarter of a century in business.
Owners of Cane and Able, Meryl and Lawrence Evans, marked 25 years by offering prizes and discounts to their customers in the centre.
Following figures suggesting many independent shops are closing across Wales, this significant anniversary highlights many stores of its kind are still thriving in the country.
Located on The Parade, the gift shop has won Independent Retailer of the Year for Wales and the South West at The Greats Retail Awards in both 2006 and 2012.
The prestigious awards recognise and celebrate the top gift retailers in the UK.
Married for over 32 years, the couple decided to open Cane and Able after they were both made redundant from their respective jobs. Lawrence, 55, who was made redundant from the electronics industry, set up a photography business however found this wasn’t lucrative, and set up the gift shop. Meryl joined him shortly after.
Selling a range of products from Yankee candles and frames to hand-crafted Italian money pots, the store has recently introduced a Welsh love spoon gift service, which enables customers to order personalised engraved wooden spoons and collect them in-store.
Meryl, 52, originally from Cwmcarn, said their achievement highlights how well independent stores are doing in the centre.
She said: “I am very proud we have celebrated our 25th anniversary as it demonstrates how thriving Cwmbran Shopping is. The centre is getting better every year, with free parking being a significant draw. We have lots of regular customers but in the last year, we have noticed more people arriving on coach trips from Swansea and West Wales, especially at Christmas time.
“We were recently invited onto BBC Radio Wales to talk about what makes the store so special, and the feedback we get is that even though online shopping is on the rise, people like being able to see, touch and smell gifts before giving them to loved ones. I think this is why we are still going strong. It’s been a great 25 years and we are really looking forward to the future!”