Small Business Spotlight: Kooky Bloom | May 2023

Thursday, May 4th, 2023

We’re pleased to kickstart our new initiative, ‘Small Business Spotlight’, with a feature on one of Dorchester’s newest, most exciting businesses – Kooky Bloom. This campaign celebrates the hard work and successes of the small, independent businesses that give the town its heart. The eclectic mix of local, family-run businesses is what makes Dorchester such a great place to shop, and we’re excited to give you an insight into one local business each month.

The nature-inspired Kooky Bloom has made quite a noise since opening in Antelope Walk, Dorchester in June 2022! With their social media soaring and celebrities like Stacy Solomon, Sheridan Smith and Alison Hammond backing the jewellery business, we were excited to visit Kooky Bloom to find out what the buzz was about!

Most of their pieces sell out within a few minutes of release online, so their Dorchester store acts as another place where Kooky Bloom lovers can pick up some of their jewellery!

Upon entering the store we were met with an unbelievably ‘Instagrammable’ style of decor – with neon lights, chandeliers, flowers and little touches creating a vibe that is truly unique to Kooky Bloom. After admiring the aesthetically-pleasing layout of the shop, we took a look around the range of products and were blown away by the quality and craftsmanship of the rings and necklaces, which had been set around real flowers!

We were lucky enough to have a chat with Matt, dubbed the ‘Admin team’, who is the partner of owner Sophie Mitchell!

For anyone who hasn’t visited, what is Kooky Bloom?

Kooky Bloom is a flower-based jewellery brand with real, natural hand pressed flowers set in our necklaces and earrings, and it’s branched from there into a whole range of nature inspired jewellery.

When and how did the business start?

It started as a hobby for my wife Sophie during the first lockdown, which then resonated into our first little launch on Etsy in July of that year. We did a restock every two weeks for the next eighteen months and then we got to a point where we couldn’t make enough for demand, so that’s when we went to every four weeks and took people on to help.

Currently you have 58,000 followers on Instagram. Was there one moment that really kickstarted the social media, or has it been a gradual climb?

Our first celebrity purchase was Josie Gibson with our poppy necklace. She shared us on Instagram which helped us grow the first few months we were going because that was within the first 8 weeks of starting the business. So thanks to Sophie giving us that boost it’s been a gradual build over the last two-and-a-half to three years since then.

That’s great. With such a large following do you get quite a lot of business online now?

Yeah, we do get a lot of our business online, but the shop has also helped out loads over the last year.

Why did you choose Dorchester as a place to open your first store?

Being from Portland ourselves we wanted to be close, and we wanted it to be an easy gathering centre for people all around the UK – and we do get that now! We’ve had people who are from Scotland going on holiday to Cornwall and they’ll divert to come and see us. We like Dorchester and we fell in love with the shop!

What’s next for Kooky Bloom?

We’re opening up the second floor of our shop which is in keeping with what people already know and love about Kooky Bloom. You can get artificial flower stems and blooms, either on their own or in bunches, as well as homeware pieces!

Can you describe Kooky Bloom in three words?

Unique individual jewellery!

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Why you should visit Kooky Bloom

Kooky Bloom is the perfect place to get a gift for a loved one. Their handcrafted jewellery is evidently high quality and made with love and passion. It is also packaged beautifully and very reasonably priced. You just can’t beat a thoughtful, handmade gift! With such a diverse range of products in their shop. we’re sure you’ll quickly find something that also takes your fancy!

SHOP | You can find Kooky Bloom at 16 Antelope Walk, Dorchester, DT1 1BE.

VISIT | They are open 5 days a week from 10am – 4:30pm (closed on Sunday and Monday).

WEBSITE | Check out their website for more products and information!

SOCIALS | Follow Kooky Bloom on Instagram!

Have an independent business in mind that you think deserves the spotlight in the future, or are you a small business in Dorchester? Send your recommendations to joe@key.digital or philg@dorchesterdorset.com!