Shop goes into offline world

Around a decade after she first set up her business selling designer brands and discount prices, Debbie Wood, now has her own shop in Mirfield town centre.

She said: “It has taken me a long time to build up to selling my clothes in a shop.”

Miss Wood, 38, has had her store, Missing Label, in Town Hall Street since December, but the story of the business starts much earlier.

“I was meant to be going back to work when I had my first child, but she was born with a heart condition, and you could only get three months’ maternity leave back then,” she said.

“She was in hospital regularly, so I couldn’t go back to work, so I thought, ‘What can I do that will fit in around her?’”

Miss Wood, of Lower Hopton, Mirfield, started Missing Label with Paula Birch after the pair realised they could make cash by selling discount clothes at the playgroup their children attended.

The business soon took off and Miss Wood started running it on her own, selling clothes at offices across the area and online using internet auction site eBay.

Now operating on her own, Miss Wood is delighted with the reception her new shop in Mirfield has received.

Mirfield town councillor Jo Fearn (Ind, Eastthorpe) said: “It just goes to show that if you give people what they want – in this case, good quality, low cost clothing – they will come into town.”