2025 Wrapped

The year 2025 was exceptional for Midtown Makers Gift Shop. We hosted a range of creative workshops, supported emerging and small local businesses, and revamped both the shop and our website. Additionally, we became the Visitor Information Hub for Ballymena. It was an eventful year, and we want to express our gratitude to all our members, customers, and supporters for keeping Midtown Makers a lively and creative spot in Ballymena.

At the beginning of the year, the second part of the Multiply Programme with the MEA Council took place, aimed at enhancing numeracy skills through arts and crafts. Individuals over 19 without a GCSE grade C or higher in maths were invited to participate in the free workshops. In 2025, we organised three jewellery-making sessions, emphasising measuring string and counting beads to determine the correct numbers for creating necklaces and bracelets. We also offered workshops in textured art, maths in art, figure drawing, beginners crochet, lino printing, sewing, quilting, and growing your own plants with pot decorating. All workshops were well-attended and enjoyed by the participants.

We provided 'Midtown Creatives' a peer to peer support group, as part of the Go Succeed Programme. This was an opportunity for makers to meet other creatives in Mid and East Antrim, share stories, get advice from experts and discover new options. Free to attend, we hosted three sessions with local guest speakers, themes included 'Tell Your Story', 'Opportunities in 2025', and 'GPSR legislation'.

Rotary charity display - As part of Ballymena Business Centre, a member of Ballymena Rotary Club, Midtown Makers agreed for Rotary to have a display area in the shop to promote the various charities that they support. Each month featured a different charity including Bravehearts NI, St. Vincent de Paul, and MacMillan Cancer Support.

In February we hosted a Creative Industries Week workshop - part of an exciting programme designed for those looking to start a business or build a career in the creative sector. Freelance consultant, Nuala Browne-Tracey gave a presentation for textile makers and retailers, sharing her perceptive and insider knowledge of ethical fashion production, trends and the application of the virtual economy to sustainable textile production. Nuala's involvement was supported by Mid and East Antrim Borough Council and Waterford City and County Council partnering on the ‘Building Shared Creative Communities’ project funded by Creative Ireland as a Shared Island initiative.

In the spring, the shop's 'Revamp' began, as we celebrated 10 years in the heart of Ballymena town centre, we geared up for a revamp starting with meetings and expert guidance from marketing specialist and business mentor Catherine Scott, along with Mags McAlpin from Creating Retail Magic - Visual Merchandising & Creative Retail Consultancy, focusing on visual merchandising, customer personas, and marketing strategies. We undertook a survey project to discover more about our customers and makers, and how best to serve them.

Our Retail Ready Programme, supported by The Gallaher Trust and Ballymena Business Centre helped Creatives in Ballymena test their products in a town centre retail environment for 2 months. In early 2025 we showcased Reece Crawford from Firefly Ceramics, who displayed his amazing pottery work:

"Hi, I’m Reece and I am a ceramicist with over five years of experience on the potter's wheel. While studying Biomedical Science at university, I’ve found pottery to be my creative escape—I work with a variety of clays, from smooth porcelain to rustic stoneware, to create unique kitchenware and dinnerware that are both beautiful and functional..."

We also displayed Mobeen Shahzad's Tropic Skincare cosmetics:

"Hi my name is Mobeen and I'm a Tropic Ambassador. Taking care of my skin is more than just a routine, it's a journey of self-love. From exfoliating masks to nourishing serums, but it's not just about the products - it's about the ritual of pampering myself, taking a few moments each day to unwind and focus on my own wellbeing!"

Richard from Grain and Glory spent two months with us showcasing his woodworking skills:

"Hi, I'm Richard Fleck, Recently, I decided to step out and launch Grain & Glory. I have a range of bespoke woodcraft items in my repertoire including tealight holders, charcuterie boards, coasters and much more."

We offered our Makers the opportunity to showcase their products and get to know their customers through 'Meet The Maker' events. A very popular one with customers was the cake tasting with Midtown Makers Member Pamela from The Bakery Room. She gave out samples of her wonderful traybakes and cakes to help promote her brand.

As well as inviting kids to join an easter egg hunt around the shop, we had a visit from the Easter Bunny! It definitely wasn't Catriona in a rabbit costume!

We welcomed Jim back in mid April. He was sorely missed in the months he was at home recovering from a broken leg, the shop just wasn't the same without his humour and energy.

During late spring and summer, the makeover began. Decorators painted the walls, contractors rearranged the stands, desks, and units, and an electrician installed additional lighting. The building underwent a thorough clean-out, with items no longer needed being donated to local charity shops.

For August Craft Month NI with Craft NI, we provided workshops including wet felting to create a flax flower with Shelley Steele, learning to crochet using recycled t-shirt yarn with Amanda Jones, and a patchwork flower garden quilting workshop with Sandra Streeter.

Local tour guide Alastair Donaghy Walks and Talks arranged to start his tours at Midtown Makers, giving visitors at taste of Ballymena history, creativity and entrepreneurship.

After many months of work we launched our new website, made by Rodney of Gazelle Communications, and managed by staff member Amanda Jones. The new website allowed us to showcase our Makers, display a clear brand and promote our workshops.

Joe Rocks brought 'Midtown Sounds' group one Saturday and treated us to their musical talents. Musicians were invited to join in and play together.

Starting and growing your creative business event:

Ballymena Business Centre, in partnership with The Gallaher Trust and with the support of Mid and East Antrim Borough Council and Invest NI, hosted a dynamic business clinic for the creative sector this week in Midtown Makers Gift Shop. The event drew a strong turnout from local artists, makers, and innovators eager to explore the range of support available to help start, grow and sustain their creative business.

Autumn was our final intake of Retail Ready participants. These included pet portrait artist Alison Kelly, local confectionary maker Glen of Granny Shaw's, graphic artist Andrea Kyle, sea glass jewellery maker Jessica Purdy, Ballymena children's author Mary Forsythe, and Sílvia Pinheiro Pontes, partner of Usborne Books. Each participant learnt which products sell best and what price point is right for them.

Our annual MacMillan Cancer Support coffee morning was a huge success with our makers volunteering to help out with refreshments and donations of handmade arts and crafts for the hamper, which we raffled off raising £450 for the charity.

September saw the official opening of the Ballymena Visitor Information Hub, with representatives from MEA Council and Mayor Jackson Minford revealing the new hub in Midtown Makers.

Staff training for the new hub included trips to cultural attractions in the Mid and East Antrim Borough Council area. A highlight for the team was Arthur Cottage and Mary with her traditional open fire method of making soda bread. Read the blog post of our 'shaped by sea and stone' adventures here

Halloween /Autumn creative workshops went a bit pumpkin mad! with crochet pumpkins, needle felted pumpkins, as well as wreath making and Nuno felted autumnal soft hat. We also displayed a range of handmade pumpkins by our members in mediums such as textiles, paintings, ceramics and jewellery.

Midtown Makers member Jordain Molloy Gillan decorated our windows with an autumn theme, using handmade and artist designed props and products by our makers. The window displays attracted many compliments from customers and became part of Ballymena BID's Ghostie Halloween Trail event, where young people were given a map of the town with stop off points to spot 'Ghostie' and be treated to sweets.

Artist Jacque McNeill ran her first 'Art and About' painting workshop starting from Midtown Makers and going out to paint local landmarks. Despite the wet weather the artists enjoyed the session and are looking forward to more from Jacque in 2026.

Ballymena's annual Discount day was another brilliant day for Midtown Makers. We offered 10% off , and stayed open until 9pm, which brought in new customers who had never shopped with us before. There was a real buzz about the shop and the town, and we made record sales and kept the offer on for the Friday and Saturday.

Enterprising Women - Winter Showcase:

Ballymena Business Centre supports the programme Enterprising Women, which is a group that provides business training and social events for women with businesses in Mid and East Antrim, run by Carrickfergus Enterprise and funded by MEA Council. Amanda represents the Business Centre and Midtown Makers at these events, and has recently been joined by team member Catriona. This November was the second year the Enterprising Women held a showcase event in Ballymena, this year in the Fairhill Shopping Centre. Members who sell products did fantastically well, with several selling out. Service providers also had the chance to talk to members of the public about their businesses, which was a great opportunity.

Ballymena BID put on a fashion show at the Braid, featuring items available from Ballymena retailers. We were invited to attend and offer a prize for the raffle. It was a good networking opportunity and we hope to be more involved in the fashion show in 2026, so watch this space!

In the run up to Christmas we held fused glass jewellery and Christmas decoration making, Marydolls taught needle felting snow queens, Cabinet of Curious Crafts held crochet your own snowman workshop and Crafty Treasures offered a floral table centre piece workshop. Mary Forsythe set up a table in the shop for her book signing event of her first book 'Jennifer Dexter the little black cow', and Silvia offered reading and play of Christmas children's stories.

We trialled late night opening on a Thursday throughout December, which Christmas shoppers apricated. Our window displays were designed and decorated by Jordain again as the autumn display was such a success. We also invited Lisa Wright back to paint the outside of the windows with a festive designed border.

We achieved a significant success by winning the Ballymena Chamber of Commerce Christmas Window Dressing competition in the 'Social Enterprise and Services' category. Tom Wiggins awarded Jordain with the prize.

December was full of fun and festivities with Santa and his elves visiting the shop on 2 Saturdays in December offering free photographs with the man himself. Midtown Member Miriam of Miriam's Wish held a promotional event with fantastic offers on her wax melts. The Midtown Makers Team and rest of Ballymena Business Centre staff went out for a lovely Christmas meal to the Castle bar and kitchen, and Ballymena Business Centre's Christmas get together 'Nibbles and Networking' was attended by Directors, staff, tenants, members and friends as a way of rounding off the year and to say thanks for everyone's hard work and support in 2025. We closed up shop at 3pm on Christmas Eve ready for a well earned rest, to be ready and refreshed for all the exciting things 2026 will bring.