Stars come out for Sheffield vintage emporium

Rileys and Co , run by husband and wife Kay and Matt Riley, opened the antiques, vintage and retro centre with artisan cafe, on Farrar Road, in July

The couple had been dreaming of opening a vintage shop and cafe, and when the premises became available it was too good an opportunity to turn down.

Kay said: “We first envisaged something small. Then we found this building and loved it so we decided to go big.

“We thought we were just going to have a few bits of upcycled furniture in the cafe for sale, but now we have somewhere between 16 and 20 traders and we sell a wide range of products – from lamps, art work, clothes.

“We were lucky, the traders came to us. We got a post out on Facebook and within 45 minutes we had people committing to take space. It’s grown and grown since then.

“There’s so many different things to look at in here and it changes all the time. Our customers tell us it’s fabulous.”

It has only been open a few months, but the shop has already attracted star attention.

Matt said: “We had Jools Holland come in recently. We couldn’t believe it. He said how much he lived the space, it was the ultimate compliment for us, especially as we renovated it ourselves.

Award-winning folk group The Young’uns also came in and did some filming here, it’s incredible.”

They are not the only musicians to fall in love with the space the Riley’s have created, and the couple have soon found themselves with another element to their business – a live music and events venue.

“We open up the whole space, and we can get around 40 to 50 people in here, the gigs are very intimate which is what people enjoy,” said Matt.

“We also run events to raise money for the Alzehimer’s charity and a cat charity called Eight Lives, which is based in Sheffield and rescues and re-homes cats.”

As well as running the shop and the events, Matt also finds the time to make all the food in the cafe – everything from vegan burgers to cake.

“We find it works well. People don’t just come in here for 20 minutes, they come in for a few hours.

“They will have a browse and then sit and enjoy something to eat.”

Kay, who has a four-year-old son called Sam, are also keen to make sure the shop is family-friendly.

“We want everyone to enjoy the shop. We want children to pick things up and play with them. We bring Sam in here all the time. This like a second home for us.”

For the full feature on shops at the Antiques Quarter see today’s Star.