Closet and Botts is a new, independent shop opening on Lewes High Street, selling a combination of new and vintage homeware, furniture and clothes, with the addition of a cafe in the spring. 196 Lewes High Street is the perfect location to combine what Lewes is famous for, all in one place: antiques, handmade designs by local artists, vintage fashion, and good coffee.
Closet and Botts is a local partnership between two old school friends, Chloe Shearing and Harriet Maxwell. Chloe originally worked in a French patisserie in Brighton, whilst Harriet was a display artist for Anthropologie in London. They share an eye for well-made, beautiful objects, and over the years have spent many a cold morning hunting around markets and car boot sales, dreaming of showcasing their finds in their very own shop. After a particularly inspiring holiday in Paris, they decided to take the plunge. They left their jobs on the same day, bought a van, and spent the next eighteen months learning their trade, scouring the flea markets of Europe, bringing home overlooked treasures to sell in pop-up shops and vintage fairs.
Their dream of opening a shop came into realisation when they discovered an old pharmacy on Lewes High Street. ‘It was just what we’d been looking for’ says Harriet, ‘old wooden floorboards, fireplaces, stain glass windows, and a beautiful garden through French doors, which will be perfect for when we open the cafe’. The combination of the shop and cafe will borrow elements from their previous experiences, taking inspiration from both a Parisian-style cafe, and the eclectic mix of Anthropologie’s vintage inspired lifestyle store, to create an immersive shopping experience in a beautifully curated setting.
