Michelle Wade on how she bought the business...
“I worked here when I was 14 and then I went to drama school, I went to Rada to train for the theatre and I was in quite a few plays. I used to work here when I didn’t have any acting jobs and then Madam said she wanted to sell the business.
“I knew the family that owned the business very well, I was lucky because I had a few good acting roles that enabled me to raise the money to buy the business. When I bought the business I was quite young.”
On preserving traditions...
“It’s very important but at the same time it’s terribly stressful to be involved in a business which is very famous and difficult to run in this economic climate. You feel an enormous responsibility to customers who come here and who associate different times of their lives with the shop; that has underlying pressure and you never know which way to go.
You don’t want to be stuck in a rut and I don’t want a decaying business
“You don’t want to be stuck in a rut and I don’t want a decaying business. That’s why we have the art show, to try and encourage the youth to come in, because that’s what Soho is all about. I think young people appreciate things that are real and they’re not hoodwinked, they know when something’s real and the like the place.”
