Popular fashion brand among businesses forced to close as Art Club Market landlord takes back property

Sisters, Katie and Lauren Hobbs at Wild Thing Thursday 7 March 2024  located near Stokes Croft in Bristol within Art Club combined working space.  PHOTO:PAUL GILLIS / Reach Plc
-Credit: (Image: Paul Gillis/Reach PLC)


Two sisters who run a fashion brand from a space at Bristol's Art Club Market have been told they will have to close up their shop and move out by mid December this year. Katie and Lauren Hobbs only opened their store in March this year, but are already having to find a new home for their business.

The pair run the hugely popular Wild Thing fashion brand, which has dressed celebrities and festivalgoers at events like Coachella, among others, all over the world. They have put years into the business and told BristolLive that they had been so excited to open their shop in central Bristol, but they say the landlord has now "taken the property back".

To a post on Instagram, the sisters said that everyone at the Art Club space has been affected. Art Club, which can be found on Bond Street just next to the Bear Pit roundabout, boasts an open plan space that a number of businesses have set up shop in, including Back Garden Pizzeria, Club Cuts barbers, and Glow Up beauty studio. When BristolLive visited the sisters' Wild Thing shop back in March, some of these other businesses were only just fitting their spaces.

READ MORE:Footballer charged after £600,000 of cannabis seized at UK airport

READ MORE:Photos show transformation of Wetherspoon pub into new cafe

Art Club has been supporting Bristol independents and creatives for over a year. The indoor market includes a hairdresser, a coffee shop and sustainable fashion among other traders. -Credit:Yvonne Deeney
Art Club has been supporting Bristol independents and creatives for over a year. The indoor market includes a hairdresser, a coffee shop and sustainable fashion among other traders. -Credit:Yvonne Deeney

In their post, Katie and Lauren wrote: "It was a shock for us all. With buildings being knocked down in Bristol to make way for student housing, who knows what the future holds for this building. We've been hit with the reality that we're going to have to go backwards for a while, only trading online and putting all rails and shop decor into storage for now."

In the video accompanying their post, the sisters spoke directly to camera from their beloved shop, where they said: "It's quite a stressful time. We recently hit 100,000 followers on Instagram which, for us is a huge achievement. We've worked so hard to get to this point, but unfortunately it was overshadowed with some really really bad news.

"We've been told by the landlord that we need to be out of the building for the 17th December. It's a really devastating time to be told that we have to leave the store. We've been viewing properties all over Bristol and we just can't find anything.

"We want to keep the shop because it does our business so much good. We've been thinking about what we're going to do if we can't find a property by the 17th of December, which is looking very likely - the business might have to go into storage. We'll keep fulfilling orders online from wherever we find.

"Instead of getting ready for Christmas, it looks like we're going to be packing up our shop. We've put everything into this space. Thank you to everyone who has visited our store. We will be updating you with hopefully a new premises. Thank you for your continued support and hopefully we'll see you soon."

In the final paragraphs of their written post, the pair said they were "trying to put a positive spin on this" with "so many new collections coming", adding: "We plan to find a new space, go big and create a fun destination shop". They also added their thanks to Art Club who "created a space for small businesses, and gave us a chance to open our first permanent shop".

The Art Club space is currently looking for help with funding to recoup money lost in what the sisters describe as "this quick and devastating decision from the landlord". You can find out more on their page in due course.