ONE of York’s most well-known shops turns five today.
The York Ghost Merchants, located at 6 Shambles, has been operated by Angus McArthur and business partner David Bloodworth since its inception five years ago.
Offering just one product – a ghost figurine – the Merchants aim to bring a 'multi-layered' approach to retail by offering an experience in the shop itself and creating a unique brand which celebrates a mystery and tradition around ghost making.
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According to Angus, the city of York itself provided the trigger for the shop as "in another location, the idea simply wouldn’t work".
He said: “York has a reputation throughout the world for its ghosts. There’s been sightings, stories passed down through generations, where the ghosts live on through those stories and heritage.
"In bygone times, lace would be brought back from Nottingham or pottery would be brought back from Stoke, so I thought it would be really wonderful to have a local craft which we brought to life here in York for tourists to take home. In a workshop above the shop, we were making on the Shambles again and bringing things down below like it would have been in the past.
“Ghosts are an easily understood token of something that isn’t easily understood.”
The idea for the ghosts themselves came to life while Angus was running his previous business - Snowhome in Gillygate.
He said: "I was approached and asked if I could curate an idea around October half-term week for families, so I came up with this idea of hiding little ghosts around the Minster at night for people to find.
“I made a few hundred of those, the people who found them were thrilled, and it was deemed a big success, so I got asked to do it again. We had them for sale in the tourist information shop, so people who couldn’t find them could go and buy one.
“On the first day of the week, I got a call to say that all the ghosts for the day sold out before lunchtime.”
From that, the concept grew into what it is today. The shop in Shambles first opened its doors on August 16, 2019, with three members of staff and interiors created by the team. Now the business has a 32-strong team and a second shop in St Anthony's Gardens.
The Merchants have been keen to grow in a way that remains true to their principles and values.
Angus said: “Each ghost is unique, and we still make them in the exact same way in small batches of 14 – which we call a ghost maker's dozen. We could get them made in a warehouse in Leeds and dilute the whole concept, but if you change things, consumers pick up on when things aren’t done well or don’t feel the same.
“It’s really important to look after what we’ve created – we believe in it, and we think we shouldn’t be greedy. I don’t think, in your lifetime, you make many emotional connections with brands, and I think with us, we’re lucky people have made that connection.
“As well as the tourists, we have very loyal customers – people who are collectors, which I didn’t anticipate. It started to form communities of people – they’re independent from us but I think it’s another real success story that groups of friends have formed.
“That’s driven by a loyalty and we’re eternally grateful to the people who are loyal to our business and support it like that. What happens as you get bigger, people get cynical, but we’ve tried to scale sensitively.”
He continued: “We’ve had stick in the past because we’ve grown and we’re successful and we have an impact on Shambles with the queue, which might annoy certain people. We do keep our heads down and do what we’re doing – yes, there’s a queue but we’re not out there promoting it constantly - I see this as a success story.
“What we created is a sort of tourist attraction and I can only see that as positive for the wider economy. People are coming and they’re staying in York because they want to come to the shop - we’ve had people visit from Mexico, America, Australia, Japan, and all over.
“If people are shopping on the high street, they want to talk about it – they want it to be special. You want to be entertained or have something to put on Instagram or tell people about it.
“In a challenging time for the high street, we’re strong. We go back full circle to how ghosts exist through storytelling and we’re now part of that culture ourselves. It’s good when things are open ended, but I like the fact we can tie ourselves together from how we started to where we are now.”
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