A grand opening took place at the weekend to celebrate Manx Crafters Gifts move to new premises in Douglas after a successful spell in The Strand shopping centre.

The business, which is owned by Lesley Dutchburn from Peel, Tina Paul from Cornaa and Chris Howson from Douglas, had been forced into moving after Sports Direct bought the complex last year.

It re-opened in King Street in Douglas on Saturday.

Chris said: ’The actual building and business consists of five floors, all of which will be in use.

’We will be selling things over the ground and first floor and have a basement area for craft clubs and workshops.

’It isn’t any kind of market with individual stalls - the business belongs to the three of us but we do show and sell items for more than 20 local crafters and producers, and we are always looking for new crafters to join us.

’Anyone interested just needs to contact us.’

She added: ’We won’t have anything for sale that has not been handcrafted or produced here on the island.

’A step further than "buy local", we’re "buy locally made".

’Our second floor will house a local psychic, David Craig, and a nail technician.

’Finally the fourth floor will be a workroom where lots of our gifts are made before being displayed for sale.’

Chris said that the owners feel that the move could be a good thing for their business.

She said: ’We have already had a tremendous amount of interest in the move and having more space for workshops, clubs, etc, means we have great plans to move forward.

’In actual fact, Sports Direct have inadvertently done us a favour as we will be bigger and better in the new premises. We only sell items made in the island including, jewellery, bags, cushions, ceramics, hand knits, wooden plaques, polymer clay, glitter glasses, crochet, wedding bouquets and more.’

Manx Crafters Gifts is open Monday to Saturday, from 9.30am to 5.30am in King Street, which leads from the Manx Co-op in Duke Street to Ridgeway Street.

From Easter, it will also be open each Sunday, between midday and 4.30pm.

To contact Manx Crafters Gifts call 354950, email [email protected] or visit the Manx Crafters Gifts Facebook page.