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A history of the 2020 – 2022 Swap Shop

It was early April 2020. And it was Covid – the worst economic situation for decades. During a Marketing Derby zoom call (one of the very first ones we ever had, when no one really understood the mute button!) – I was inspired by a local charity CEO to find a way to bring small businesses and charities together to support each other during lockdown.

We didn’t know how long this was going to be for, what impact it had on our businesses and what the future held.

Rachel Hayward

Remembering a much beloved tv show – Noel Edmonds Multi-coloured Swap Shop where we swapped our toys in the 70s (it was a different time!!) – I thought we could do something similar.

In stepped Dean Jackson from Huub to give me his support, and whilst neither of us knew how to code – but knew we needed something “technical” – he suggested Lee Marples from think3. I reached out to Lee, explained our idea (and the original swap shop, as he and his team are much younger than Dean and I) and in 2 weeks they had built the first website.
We have secured £156,500,000+ in contracts and grant funding.
On 4 May – Star Wars Day – we launched the Derby Swap Shop to a group of business friends, and the juggernaut began.

Within a month we had expanded into Nottingham and Leicestershire followed suit.
Swaps were happening everywhere. Offers of PR for gifting boxes, business templates for IP advice, it was all happening.

By September we had rebranded into the UK Swap Shop and merged all 3 into one, UK wide interactive platform.

It's pretty simple, an individual, business or charity from across the UK is looking for something. In return they will provide a swap offering services or goods in return.

Whilst running our own businesses, which boomed during the pandemic.

Whilst the platform wasn’t perfect, word of mouth took us to over 1000 members, and the support of East Midlands Chamber, British Library Business & IP Centre Network.

We were Marketing Derby’s Rising Star in 2021 and 2021 and 2022 saw us finalists in the Great British Entrepreneur Awards – not bad for an idea created in a couple of weeks during lockdown.

We also snared a Dragon too!

And became the Federation of Small Businesses East Midlands Community Winner in 2022.

But small businesses cannot live on swaps alone, and we did emerge out of the pandemic and lockdowns, blinking into the light and ready to pick up our business baton, and fight another day.

Every time I tried to close the Swap Shop, another business owner would tell me how much of a difference it had made. I felt, many times, like Michael Corleone from The Godfather “every time I try to leave, they pull me back in”

Winning Business Awards Journey - Bid writing and consultancy
But finally it was time to close the websites down. And we are planning a different proposition, one inspired by Swap Shop and also Tinder. But this time, for businesses. Watch this space for the hookup, coming soon.