An imaginative Exeter entrepreneur who has had to evolve her businesses to keep financially afloat is now changing direction once again to create what she believes is Devon’s first American-style thrift warehouse.
After becoming infuriated by many low value secondhand items donated to charity shops end up in landfill instead of its shelves, Carmen Croxall has been inspired to transform her business the Play Emporium – a vintage funfair and play facility- in Marsh Barton into a thrift shop selling a diverse range of secondhand items, including clothing, craft supplies, jewellery and toys.
Carmen, who is known for her seasonal displays at her rented home in Exeter, including a life-sized gingerbread house that went viral in 2022, is closing the children’s play centre after only seven months of it being launched. In October, she opened The Secondhand Craft Shop CIC in the same warehouse as the Play Emporium to make use of spare space downstairs and offering a place for families to buy secondhand craft supplies.
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