I was in orange County, California, a few days ago and happened see The Potting Shed by Carlisle. I’d never heard of the shop before and was drawn. It looked appealing. Anyway, I soon found myself in an excellent local retail business.

Takeaways for newsagents from what I saw are: playing outside your shingle is a smart move, upcycling everyday items for product placement and display is smart, not collecting all products from a category in one space is good and working with local makers to provide tastings and viewings reinforces your localness.

While The Potting Shed by Carlisle is a garden centre, it is a type of local retail business that any newsagency could evolve into. Visiting was a reminder that we should not restrict ourselves by what people assume about our ‘type’ of business.