Home Improvements

One of the stalwarts of Totnes High Street may be getting a new look – but there are no plans yet to shut up shop.

Which will be good news for customers of Lawsons, the homewares store which has been a presence of the town’s ever changing retail scene since 1979.

people don’t like walking up stairs!

Managing director Liz Lawson says Totnes is a fantastic place to have a shop – but her children don’t want to take on the family firm, so she’s slowly edging towards retirement. The Devon -wide business was started in 1904 by her great grandfather and she’s been at the helm for 32 years. “I think what’s worth celebrating is that we have survived,” she told the Pulse.

There have had to be closures, though. Plymouth closed in 2020 and the Tavistock one will follow soon. The Ivybridge store remains. Liz is trying to sell the whole business as a going concern but
meanwhile is applying for planning permission to turn the upper floors of the Totnes store – a Grade Two listed merchant’s house – into a maisonette. The ground floor will remain a Lawsons for the
forseeable future. “In this day and age it is unusual for retailers to use the upper floors of a building – people don’t like walking up stairs! So having planning permission in place makes the building more viable and gives the opportunity for much needed accommodation in Totnes.”

The building has had a varied past. Owned by the Mitchell family from 1805 to 1877, Dr Richard Mitchell was a public orator at Oxford and head of Magdalen Hall. During that time a part of it was the Seven Stars Inn. The South Devon library was also housed here and Liz says Veaseys the printers also occupied it for a while. A massive chimney breast remains at the back of the building, which was a cook house.

we have survived

Liz says she’s been working with the South Hams conservation officer and local firm Deo Architecture to ensure the remodelling is sympathetic to the historic building. Planners are due to decide this month whether the scheme gets the thumbs up.

Despite the onslaught of online shopping and hikes in business rates – and now the closure of Lloyds, the town’s last bank – Liz is optimistic that Totnes traders will thrive.

“We should appreciate what we have got here,” she said.