Two Doctors Bringing Flavours of Africa & the Caribbean to Shrewsbury!
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00:00I'm Adrian, one of the founders of this establishment called The Hibiscus Shop.
00:08This is... I'm Reem.
00:12So we both work in hospitals, so we're both doctors. I'm a medical doctor.
00:18I'm a surgical trainee, currently in orthopaedics. I'm a medical trainee.
00:22We're currently at The Hibiscus Shop, 8 St John's Hill in Shrewsbury.
00:26We're basically doing two full-time jobs at the moment, but we've employed someone
00:31who's absolutely amazing, who's been working with us.
00:34And the short of the story is, I guess, or they say long and short, is we basically moved from
00:40Hampshire, that's where we met, doing our foundation training at work, came to the
00:48West Midlands and realised that in Shrewsbury there was no African Caribbean shops.
00:52So I had to either go home to Gloucester on the weekend,
00:56which has a quite large Caribbean population, surprising for many people,
01:00get stuff and stock up. And Reem would basically, when she goes back home
01:04to see her family in Birmingham, would get stuff and come back.
01:06And I think just in conversation, we were kind of like...
01:10We wanted some plantain chips.
01:12And then so we just like made a shop.
01:14I thought I wanted chips for ourselves.
01:17Yeah, it just happened and we're happy.
01:21It's been tough, but I think we've made it work.
01:25It's like a dream that's come to life.
01:27It's crazy to be stood here and live around.
01:30It's just crazy.
01:32Oh, it's been amazing.
01:33Honestly, I can't complain.
01:35Like, I think we were a bit worried because we were like, you know, it's not centre of town,
01:40but the St John's Hill community here has been so supportive.
01:44The Shrewsbury community has been so supportive.
01:47I think we were like, we are speechless.
01:50Yeah, I think the reception that we've had...
01:53It's been like overwhelming.
01:54People's like... Individuals brought us flowers.
01:57Yeah.
01:57Neighbours come in just to open the door to say welcome, like can't wait to see things.
02:01Literally.
02:02We absolutely couldn't believe it.
02:03And I think we underestimated people's sort of knowledge of African and Caribbean food.
02:09People have come in asking for specific things that I was like,
02:13how do you know that?
02:14Yeah.
02:14You know, where did you hear this?
02:15Yeah.
02:15Like, oh yeah, we went on holiday or we worked abroad or we lived abroad or family members.
02:19We lived in South London.
02:20Yeah, literally.
02:21So the first, I think the first week we kind of had like probably about,
02:27I'd say 70% if not less of the stock we have now.
02:30But because people kept on asking and asking and asking
02:33and we wanted to keep sort of people coming back.
02:35So we kept on sort of adding more.
02:38But it's been absolutely overwhelming.
02:40So we're pretty much open every day except Saturdays.
02:43And we're open till 7, Monday to Friday.
02:46And then Sunday 11 till 5 at the moment.
02:51If the demand sort of asks for it, then maybe we can open earlier on Sunday.
02:55The reason for doing that, so Saturdays we spend with our families.
02:59This is our day off.
03:00And we, I think our colleagues wanted somewhere that opened beyond five o'clock
03:05on a Monday to Friday because they can come after work.
03:09And obviously with the market closing on Sundays and Mondays,
03:12they also wanted somewhere that opened on a Sunday
03:15and somewhere that opened on a Monday,
03:16especially to get like yams and cassavas, okras, tomatoes, thyme,
03:21you know, all the fresh produce.
03:23And that's pretty much what we've gone for.