Highbridge’s former George Hotel has been transformed into a modern furniture store and coffee shop and has opened this week following a major building project lasting two and a half years.
Sopha has opened in Church Street in place of the former hotel and its owners have retained much of the building’s original heritage and stonework.
The store has been founded by local couple Matt and Emily Scott. Matt is a highly-regarded, third-generation family furniture retailer who cut his teeth alongside his father in the trade.
Sopha sells a wide range of handmade beds, sofas, and ‘home stuff’ including a multitude of related products including lighting, bedding, clocks, cushions, pillows, plus dining, living and bedroom furniture.
Matt told Burnham-On-Sea.com: “Sopha is offering something very different to the rest of the furniture industry – we will offer best prices all year-round rather than ‘yo yo pricing’ of sales and artificial discounts.”
“And we aim to make everything in the store bespoke to us wherever possible – we have shied away from stocking generic brands and instead have created quality products that we can be confident in the quality.”
“It’s all part of our plan to be an ethical retailer, trying to change the industry for the long term.”
He added: “The store is operating on tight margins and is not comprising on quality so customers will be pleasantly surprised with our prices. We will be offering our online prices in store and we aim to be competitive with, or cheaper, than our internet-only competitors.”
The couple says the project has taken longer to complete than originally planned after they encountered some challenges along the way given the condition of the former hotel building – but they are delighted with the end result.
“We had a clear vision from the start with what we wanted to create. We took out 1,000 tonnes of masonry and plasterboard from the building, but also have retained all the heritage of the original building. We are delighted with the final result – Highbridge has a modern, new furniture store.”
“We’re frequently asked why we have opened in Highbridge. Well, we see it as the ideal location, just off the motorway and with our own free customer car parking area. It’s very handy for our target customer base from all along the M5 corridor.”
Sopha has created a dozen local jobs so far, with a mixture of part time and full time roles, and they plan to have a total of 15 positions in place early in the New Year.
The store also includes a coffee shop upstairs which offers a menu of fresh cakes, sandwiches, paninis and fair trade coffee and teas, which is open to all.
Sopha is intending to be a fully ethical business, with a plastic-free coffee shop. It has also taken on an ‘ethical ambassador’ who has an environmental background. She will be working to make the store more sustainable over the coming years.
Matt and Emily say they are keen to thank their parents for all their “invaluable” support, especially Emily’s parents for their financial assistance with the project.
Matt adds: “We have used local traders and businesses wherever possible to turn our vision into a reality. We are delighted with the final result and we look forward to our customers meeting our new team.”
The store’s full grand opening is in January but the couple say they wanted to proceed with the ‘soft opening’ to share their project with the world. An online store goes live in 2019.
The couple acquired the former George Hotel building and former tattoo shop next door two and a half years ago and have since undertaken an ambitious building project.
The council gave the go-ahead for the change of use in December 2016 and there were fears the building would be turned into flats.
Mike Murphy, Chair of Highbridge Chamber of Trade, said: “I visited Sopha during their pre-opening and I was frankly astonished at the quality and finish of the building, the stairs, and the customer lift to all floors.”
“That was before I looked over the range of sumptuous beds and sofas, all arranged with fine accessories to show them off.”
“Solid wood features throughout the range of furniture, from simple expanding tables for two or four to complete dining room sets shown with lighting and accessories. I loved the duvet sets and the range of snug throws in warm colours, finished off with ranges of mirrors and clocks and objects des virtu all over the place.”
“I wondered where I was at times – it was so elegantly laid out. Finally, I enjoyed a latte and toasted panini from their interesting range.”
“This store is quite unique in concept and design – more of a shopping experience with complete settings to help you make choices with ease.”
“Well done Matt and Emily for bringing such an exciting business to Highbridge. As it builds more houses and facilities clearly Highbridge has Sopha as a destination for real comparative shopping.”
“We all know we shop with our feet. Those of us who choose Sopha will leave delighted that we made that choice. We also have three other smaller Highbridge shops selling a wide range of collectibles, art, ceramics, glass , vintage and retro. There’s lots of choice in Highbridge.”
