Name: Rae James

Business: MDP Tools, Leg Street, Oswestry

Opening Hours: 9am to 5pm Wednesday to Saturday

When did you open and why?

I OPENED October 27, 2010. I bought the business off a gentleman called Mike Potter who had a shop down Beatrice Street named Tack Alley.

He was retiring from his job and wasn’t planning on selling his business to anyone. Luckily he had the faith in me to buy it from him and continue with the running of the store.

After taking over which is now nine years ago, the shop moved to here in Leg Street and I have been here ever since.

Why did you open in this location?

Mike was based in Beatrice Street beforehand, and he was a gentleman who would always shut for his August holiday.

As I was buying the business off him, it was the start of his holiday, and after popping in to check everything was ok, he found that the ceiling was leaking from the flat above.

He told me to pull out of the deal, but I decided not to and told him I’d be happy to move to another location with it.

This shop was available and Mike helped with all the woodwork here internally and all of the racks and aisles, etc, and I took things from there.

Tell us about your business...

We PROVIDE pretty much everything to be honest. I love a challenge, and I do try to sell everything you won’t be able to find elsewhere. I offer plumbing, electrical, gardening, security, door furniture, nuts and bolts – you can come here and buy a single specific bolt or nut so you don’t have to buy them as packs.

It’s really unique, and we have a lot of unusual items on sale – we even sell teddy bear eyes.

It’s like Aladdin’s Cave in here so people often have to ask where things are.

What is your most memorable/proudest achievement in business?

I THINK my proudest moment overall is just being accepted by the customers. Because when I first took over from Mike, I had a gentleman put a letter in the Advertizer saying how much of a shame it was that Mike was closing down, because he had the shop for about 40 years and had a great reputation.

That’s why it’s called MDP – Mike Diane Potter, and that’s one of the things I wanted to keep.

So for people to find it had moved, and all of a sudden there was a woman behind the counter, it was a bit like ‘What does she know about DIY?’.

But not long afterwards, he praised me massively, and I think at the beginning some men may have been a bit confused to see a woman behind the counter, but I’ve proved I know what I’m talking about, and it’s great that people come and ask me for advice.

Any strange requests?

Most requests aren’t strange because like I said, we stock things like teddy bear eyes, but I don’t get many I’d consider to be weird.