A GREENFIELD store aims to be more than just a place where people can get a coffee or a treat – it aims to provide the perfect Pick Me Up.
Sally Dewhirst has taken her successful truck, a regular at many community events, to what was Weaver and Wilde Groceries on Chew Valley Road.
And after finding her own spirits lifted by swapping her designer career for running the Pick Me Up Company full-time, she hopes the base can do so for those living around it.
Sally said: “I want to be able to bring people together, create a community of the Pick Me Up Company, to be able to plan things and events that just make people happy.
“It’s not just the fact I’m serving up coffee and treats and snacks, I want more from it.
“With the truck, I’ve created a business model around going to businesses and bringing them back together.
“Since Covid-19 struck there’s been lots of research about how businesses and offices have become more disconnected because of people working from home – which I’m all for – but there’s that social element.
“When I went back to the office, there was something missing. Everyone was expected to go back to how it was before but there’d be new people who’d joined that you’d only met online.
“So, my idea with the truck is to go into businesses, bring them back together again, work alongside others who can do workshops in various things.
“Then I wanted a space that can do a similar thing but to families and communities. Although this is small, I want to use everything that’s around me.”
Sally, who comes from the Haughton Green area of Denton, picked Greenfield after childhood memories of days out – and a recommendation from a friend.
And the base is the next step of a business that began just over two years ago.
She added: “It started as the Pick Me Up truck in February 2022. I was working full time as a designer but decided to just go for it.
“I knew I wanted to go back into hospitality in some form, but I also knew I needed it to be on my terms – hospitality is hard.
“So, lockdown got me and I was like, ‘I don’t want to go back to working in that industry.’ It just wasn’t for me anymore. I wasn’t the nicest person I could be in work. It got to a point where I was like, ‘I can’t do this.’
“I started the Pick Me Up truck, initially at Guide Bridge train station. It was tough there as we were coming out of lockdown and a lot of people were still working from home. But it was great as it got me to a place where I knew what I needed.
“Events started picking up over that summer and I realised, ‘I don’t need to be fixed in one place.’
“I started doing different markets, then got myself a street trader’s licence to go around Tameside and I could test a few different areas.
However, while people said, ‘Your coffee’s amazing,’ it was very seasonal. I knew I needed to do something. At the start of last year, I thought, ‘I need a fixed location.’
“We always used to come to Saddleworth when we were little. We’d have family days out in Uppermill, on the stepping stones, and my friend sent me the link for this place.
“And there seems to be more of a community feel in Greenfield, that’s what I wanted.”
Community spirit is already being felt by Sally as several regular customers are lighting up her day – notable one canine one.
She told Saddleworth Independent: “I have a group of regulars. There’s a couple that comes in with a dog called Freddie – I could just be putting the canopy up and I can see him dragging his owner down the road!
“It’s just really nice, it’s lovely but I want to do more and create more.”
The Pick Me Up Company is based at 64, Chew Valley Road and is open from 7.30am until 3pm Tuesday-Friday and 9am-3pm on Saturday and Sunday.
The store can be found at www.instagram.com/thepickmeupco/ and www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61556131711926.
The truck is located at www.facebook.com/thepickmeuptruck/ and www.instagram.com/thepickmeuptruck_/
