There is a deceptive simplicity to the premises that houses the enterprise trading at Lot 101 Regent Street, Bourda.
Curtains and Draperies Designs has enthusiastically em-braced an entire swathe of the market in home décor, its modest shop space embellished by a display of pretty and rich-looking fabric. It is not difficult to imagine some of it as bed sheets, blinds, drapes or sofa covering that would more than do justice to your home.
Clearly proud of her tastefulness, the proprietor, Wanda Roach, has steadily built a reputation as being amongst the best in her trade. At the start of her conversation she let slip that she had just completed two important assignments, providing and fitting the drapes for the Secretariat of the Presi-dency and for State House. It was a less than subtle but entirely believable piece of marketing.
Afterwards, she says that the credential simply seeks to draw attention to the high standard that she has set herself rather than to seek to place a price tag on her on her work. Christmas—usually by far the most lucrative season for blinds and bedroom linen—is around the corner and Roach understands that it is a multitude of less than upmarket customers upon whose patronage she depends. There is a layaway plan awaiting those customers unable to pay everything up front.
Curtains and Draperies Designs is currently in its eighth year on Regent Street. Before that, Roach traded from her home in Dennis Street, Campbel-lville. These days, when it comes to business, entrepreneurs are loathe to talk numbers. It is, however, not difficult to determine that this is a multi-million dollar enterprise; it is, too, Roach says, a psychological leap from trading from your living room to going big.
What exists as Curtains and Draperies Designs is as much a passion as it is a business enterprise. After high school Roach engaged in various pursuits including evening classes and a stint at the University of Guyana that provided her with valuable inductions into economics and business management; disciplines that now serve her well.
Her real strength, it seems, has been her vision for growth. Setting aside its stocks of fabric, drapes, valances, curtains and bed sheets Curtains and Drapery offers some cleverly conceived ancillary services. You can, for example, walk into Curtains and Drapery select your fabric and have your bed sheets or curtains stitched in the factory in a few days; and if you are inclined to become overwhelmed by the challenge of fixing your home for the holidays, Roach will show up and afford you the benefit of her expertise in style and colour; her enterprise also provides a cleaning service.
Like the rest of the high street traders she too has had to grapple with the vagaries of the country’s economy though there appears to be no place for pessimism in her thought process. “It will pick up,” she says. That is her gut feeling. Then she adds; “Guyanese love Christmas.”
Then she talks about the range of “new stuff” on its way to Guyana to meet the seasonal demand. She is, too, preoccupied with the other variations of the service which she can provide and the new niche that she might carve in the market. All of that is likely to require the recruitment of two or three additional persons, at least for the holidays.
There is, she says, pressure to perform. “More people are travelling and seeing high-quality goods and you have to match that quality if you are to meet the market,” she says. She gestures in the direction of the array of fabric on display and assumes a satisfied expression.
Roach is pushing herself to expand the frontiers of her business. Her longer-term ambition, she says, is to offer “everything for homes.”
