Consumer Editor Emma McKinney visits Birmingham's newest independent retailer and reveals how it could help make the Second City England's shopping capital.

WITH a high-flying sales job that saw her jetting around the globe clinching deals, Michelle Jamie might have been thought to have had it all.

But despite earning an enviable salary, Michelle was quickly beginning to discover hopping from one plane to the next was coming at a cost – leaving her suffering serious kidney problems caused by a gruelling work regime.

“I knew for the sake of my health I had to make a change and I realised it was time to pursue my childhood dream of owning my own business, which would mean I could settle down in the UK and make sure I was eating properly and taking care of myself,” said Michelle, who took the brave step of ditching her successful career to open a shop.

And much to her surprise, the jump from employee to employer was an instant success with her store, Wysteria Lane, in Shrewsbury, whipping up a hysteria among shoppers – selling out of all its stock of vintage-style fashion, homeware, gifts and accessories within days of opening.

That was four-and-a-half years ago and Michelle hasn’t looked back. While the recession left some businesses floundering, Wysteria Lane was growing, quickly opening a second store in Shrewsbury and launching a website attracting customers from around the world – turning over an annual profit of more than £1 million.

The company’s success was not going unnoticed. It was named as Britain’s best gift shop by judges of The Greats Independent Retailer of the Year Awards and even attracting, perhaps arguably the unlikely, attention of chiefs at Birmingham City Council. So impressed were tsars working on the local authority’s Retail Development Programme – an initiative supporting independent retailers who want to set up or expand within Birmingham and in turn helping make it the shopping capital of England – they approached Michelle, urging her to open a Wysteria Lane in the second city.

“I couldn’t believe it when, out of the blue, bosses from the council turned up at one of our stores in Shrewsbury saying they had heard about us, loved what we were doing and really wanted us to bring it to Birmingham,” says Michelle, aged 35. “They said they wanted to do all they could to make sure it happened and even offered us a grant to help open a shop in Birmingham.