Wayne Scott, Your Mug on a Mug’s owner, has upgraded from market stall to street-side store, after a hiatus from in-person trading enforced by the pandemic.

Scott told Printweek that despite the forced move to online trading during the pandemic, he had managed to retain many of his customers.

“When the place locked down and the markets were closed, there was nobody about – so I bought a big shed and worked from home.

“I did quite a bit online, so I’ve got quite a good customer base.”

The store was opened by the Shropshire market town’s mayor, councillor Jay Moore, on 13 August.

Scott runs a variety of kit at the store, which is split in two between workshop and storefront, including Ricoh Sawgrass A3 and A4 SG2100 and SG7100 sublimation printers, Epson EcoTank ET-2820 inkjet printers, a 3D sublimation vacuum heat press, a pair of double mug presses, and a Silhouette Cameo 3 cutting machine.

Scott started planning to open the store just six months after lockdown.

“A lot of the shops in Oswestry were closed – this shop itself had been unused for nearly three years. So I managed to get a good deal on the rent.”

While the store itself is not on the high street, he said, he still gets a good number of people coming in as passing trade. The rest Scott attracts in with social media and online marketing.

“It’s nice to talk to people again, face-to-face, meet new customers, and let them know what you do and how you do it.

“I started as a hobby, and it progressed from there... I still find it amazing to tell people [about sublimation], and printing onto mugs and things like that, they get quite interested.”