Meet the couple behind a Liverpool lifestyle store named one of the most stylish in the UK

A little lifestyle store in south Liverpool has been named as one of the Most Stylish Independent Shops in the UK.

The Sunday Times Style magazine chose A Slower Space on Penny Lane to feature in its top 50 list of coolest indies across the country.

The shop was opened in 2019 by husband and wife Mike and Michelle Waterfield who decided to combine careers in fashion with non-work passions to create their neighbourhood business.

The Liverpool-born couple, who met when they were studying at Carmel College in St Helens, came up with the idea for A Slower Space while they were travelling around Hong Kong.

Mike explains:

“We’d both worked in the fashion industry for 16 years and towards end of 2017 we moved to Hong Kong for a year to work out there. Within that year we realised we wanted to get out of fashion so we quit our jobs and decided to go travelling and it was while we were doing that we dreamt up A Slower Space.

“Michelle used to be a Saturday girl at a florist when she was about 15 so she’s always loved flowers and plants, and I’ve always loved coffee, so we put the two together and thought, let’s just do something for us.

“Michelle’s dream was to have a shop that sold nice things she liked, as well as flowers and coffee, and we wanted it to be a bit of a community space where you knew everyone.

“We wanted somewhere warm and chilled where people could come in and even if they weren’t buying something in the shop they could just have a coffee, sit in the window to watch the world go by and have a chat, or just come in and have a chat, and I think that’s what we’ve created.”

Mike and Michelle source all the products in A Slower Space themselves.

“We keep an eye on what’s going on and we always listen to the customers and see what they need and what they want,” adds Mike. “They’re around where we are for a reason and as well as good restaurants they want to have a shop on their doorstep selling nice stuff, so they don’t have to go to town.

“We call ourselves a lifestyle store because you can come in, buy flowers for yourself or a friend, you can have a wedding consultation with us, buy artwork, plants, coffee, homeware …

“We try and cater to everyone, so there’s brands for those more expensive occasions but we also have ones for girls buying their friends a little pick-up gift or a £15 bunch of flowers and a nice card.

“Everyone’s busy so it’s a go-to, and we make it easy because you know we’ll have something.”

As A Slower Space has become established, 47-year-old Mike says they’ve been able to expand their products and make it even more personal.

“Throughout the six years we’ve been here we’ve always wanted to have our own card range, which we now do, and they’re going to other independent shops around the country too.

The Sunday Times Style magazine list featuring A Slower Space

“We also have our own print range of all the parks in Liverpool which I design along with the cards. The parks prints have been an amazing success, the Palm House has asked to sell them and The Reader in Calderstones, and they were one of our biggest selling items in the last year.”

Mike says news that they’d been included in The Sunday Times Style magazine Top 50 Most Stylish Independent Shops in the UK came as a complete surprise.

“We were actually away in Japan and one of the ladies in the shop phoned us and said a customer had come from Preston because they’d just seen us in the Sunday Times magazine. We asked everybody to try and find a copy and there we were, the only place in Liverpool mentioned, and Mel C was on the front as well so I think it was meant to be!

“We were so proud of our staff and each other, and we were really buzzing for our customers because something they’ve supported for six years has made it to such an accolade.”