In the spotlight - crave

It's time we feature another one of our amazing stockists - crave home. crave is a cool, colourful and contemporary gift store, offering the best in home décor and gift ideas. Located just minutes from downtown Auckland in Birkenhead village on the North Shore, they're your go-to store when you need a gorgeous gift. Jude, owner of crave, has answered a few questions for us on what inspires her, how it all started, and more! Store Name: crave home (known as crave, with a small c) Your Name: Jude Turner Job Title: owner Location: 30 Mokoia Road, Birkenhead, Auckland

How did the idea of the store come about? My husband and I were casting about for a business to buy together, discovered a gift store that was for sale but after a lot of investigation, decided to start our own from scratch. I’ve always loved beautiful interiors and home accessories and saw the opportunity to create my own business doing something I really enjoyed. Why the name? I wanted a one word name that would embody desire and luxury – crave was the second name I came up with. What kind of products do you sell? We specialise in gorgeous gift for the ones you love – baby, child, him, her and the home. We carefully select lines that will appeal to our (mostly) female customer base who appreciate quality, are seeking items that are a little bit different and are wanting to add the finishing touch to their home. We stock fragrant candles, gifts for babies and children, beautiful stationery and art prints, glassware, vases, cool ornaments, throws, towels, jewellery, clothing – a bit of everything really! What are the best and worst things about owning your shop? This has been such an exciting few years – the best thing has been to see the phenomenal growth of the store in 4.5 years. We started out in a difficult location, but 2.5 years ago moved up to the Birkenhead Town Centre into a space that was 3 times the size of our original store. I came out in hives, lost hours of sleep and was so consumed by the big step up – but it turned out to be the best decision I ever made. Another highlight, is the feedback from customers – we all feel 10 feet high when someone takes the time to tell us how much the person loved the gift they bought from us. The worst thing? I guess the all-consuming nature of retail, particularly around Christmas when I’m working in-store 7 days a week for 5 weeks. When I first opened crave, I was the only staff member so I worked 6 days a week for about a year before I hired a part-time staff member (who is still with me today!). My children and husband have been amazing, but I’m trying to achieve a better work/life balance this year.

What's your favourite creative outlet? I really like to cook, so while we just get through the week as best we can while factoring in afterschool stuff for the children, I like to prepare a delicious and creative meal for Saturday night, often with friends joining us. I also really like doing the laundry – it’s strangely soothing. What are your top 5 websites/blogs at the moment and what makes them stand out? I always keep an eye on Cush & Nooks, Superette, the Design Files, Ses & Jen Stylefiles, and Lee Ann Yare. I also check in to the Daily Mail regularly for a sneaky fix. I am inspired by beautiful graphics, great photography and creative styling. How do you find new designers / products to stock? We are fortunate in that a lot of clever and creative people are seeking us out but I attend various fairs and trade shows both here and in Australia so I can pick up on new items to the market. Sometimes customers mention items that they’ve seen elsewhere which we try and track down. What song or album are you currently playing in the shop? We are always mixing it up but are using a lot of Pandora radio stations – One Republic and St Germain are current favourites and we also play a blend of tracks from the charts. Where can people find you physical shop and on the web? We are located in the heart of Birkenhead Village, just 10 minutes from central Auckland at 30 Mokoia Road. Our website is www.cravehome.co.nz