The Sweet Smell Of Success

Alison 13DEC18

t’s the little shop with the big heart, the big reputation and the ridiculously huge array of goodies inside.

Seriously, is Brooke & Shoals some kind of optical illusion…?

From the outside, it looks like the home of Mr & Mrs Tittlemouse. Inside, it’s Narnia, it’s Aladdin’s Cave – it’s a whole world onto itself.

Then again, founder Alison Banton and her trusty crew clearly know all about perception, and getting The Look that fits. Style is all about simply figuring out what goes where, and when, and why, and everything in Brooke & Shoals – from those goodies on display to the attentive-to-detail ladies behind the counter – reflects that. So much so that, despite its tidy size, you could easily get lost in this hideaway haven for an afternoon.

Stocking everything from jewellery to clothes, from watches to their own award-winning fragrances, Brooke & Shoals have come a long way over the last fourteen years. To the point that the little shop that could now employs ten people, and even has its own warehouse HQ over in Newtown Park.

And it all grew out of a childhood fascination with soaking rose petals. Finding new aromas, new sensations, making brand new creations.

And unlike so many other curious Greystones teenagers at that time, the lady didn’t try to smoke ’em.

To date, Alison Banton – who studied at the Grasse Institute Of Perfumery in France – has created 12 Brooke & Shoals fragrances, these unique creations spreading their wings right across Ireland in recent years, to over 300 stockists nationwide today.

So, clearly, Ms Banton knows what she’s doing – besides fulfilling a childhood dream, that is. Just how far Brooke & Shoals have come, and where they’re headed next, we decided to find out for ourselves this afternoon, when we swung by this cosy little shop on the corner…

You can find out more about Brooke & Shoals on their website here, Facebook here, Instagram here, or you can email pauline@brookeandshoals.ie. You can also find them on Google Maps here.