A LUXURY jewellery store is thinking of taking on extra staff after a gem of a first year in business at the Eagles Meadow Shopping Centre in Wrexham.

Bosses at Mococo, which started as a kitchen table enterprise for Flintshire couple Lee and Maureen Hooson and has grown into a network of sumptuous shops across North Wales and Cheshire, threw a glittering champagne party for customers to mark its first birthday.

And Maureen Hooson said the Eagles Meadow shop had been such a run-away success that she and her husband were thinking of boosting staff numbers to cope with the demand created during their first glittering 12 months in Wrexham.

The expensively fitted out Eagles Meadow shop was launched with a champagne reception early last year and the bubbly came out again last week for the big birthday bash in which guests schmoozed to the mellow tones of saxophonist Dean Houston.

From a humble start around the kitchen table of their home in Northop the Hoosons have rapidly developed Mococo over the past seven years to the point where it has become one of the most important players in the business.

Since Mococo was started with just £250 of Maureen’s savings in 2006 the couple have opened five high street shops in Ruthin, Mold, Chester and Liverpool and the Eagles Meadow branch was another significant investment for them.

Maureen used her original £250 investment to buy a small range of gems which she sold to friends at jewellery parties and things grew from there.

With husband Lee masterminding  the business side of things, Maureen concentrated on making her own jewellery and buying in prestige brands such as Pandora, Baccarat,  and Thomas Sabo.

All of items, including rings, bracelets, earrings and necklaces are attractively displayed in the new Wrexham  store.

Taking a break from greeting customers at the first birthday party, Mauren said: “I know we chose a tough financial climate to launch the Eagles Meadow shop but I’m delighted to say it was a success right from the first day we opened.

“In fact, Eagles Meadow is obviously such a good location and we’ve done so well here in our first 12 months that it’s exceeded all our expectations.

“From the word go we have been well received by our customers and many have said they are delighted that we chose to open here in Wrexham.

“I actually overheard someone saying after looking in our window that it was like something you only see usually in London.

“We opened last year with three full-time staff working during the week and five on Saturdays but things have been going so well for us that we have already taken on an extra full-time person.

“We are now thinking of possibly taking on another part-timer for the lunchtime trade, which is when we get particularly busy.”

Maureen added: “I think our first year has been so successful because I believe we have captured a niche market in affordable luxury.

“Even in a recession people like a bit of luxury and at Mococo you don’t have to spend a fortune to get it.

“Our customers go right across the age range from the very young to grans and granddads.

“In fact, it was marvellous to see young lads of about 12 coming in to buy something special for their Mums on Mother’s Day.  It would be something inexpensive like a charm for a charm bracelet but we wrap everything nicely in a gift bag tied with a ribbon to make it special.

“People have also been buying our jewellery as gifts as an alternative to other things. Instead of champagne they’ve been buying ear-rings.

“We’re now very much looking forward to another successful year at Eagles Meadow.”

Eagles Meadow Manager Kevin Critchley congratulated Mococo on having such a successful first year.

He said: “Mococo has been a brilliant addition to our fantastic range of shops and underlines our growing reputation as the fashion capital of North Wales.”

A bumper week of sunshine, song and dance has seen the Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod report a massive increase in attendance.

In all 33,976 people paid at the gate over the six days of this year’s event earlier this month, up more than 17 per cent on last year, while competitors and volunteers took the total attendance to over 37,000 for the week.

A delighted treasurer Selwyn Evans reported this week that the event was already over the Eisteddfod’s £440,000 target figure for ticket income with some receipts still outstanding.

He said: “It’s been a very good event this year with a very good turnout in wonderful weather and the number of people on the Eisteddfod field during the day has been particularly good.

“We always have some fantastic concerts and competitions and this year was no exception but we made a major effort to make the daytime, on-field activities more attractive this year and it has paid off.

“We sold more than 6,000 day tickets more this year than last and that adds up to an almost 50 per cent increase.

“I think we’re almost there or thereabouts now so I would expect the final figure to be encouraging with the numbers for parking still to come in.”

This year’s big concert attraction was the appearance of keyboard king Jools Holland and his Rhythm and Blues Orchestra on the last night of the Eisteddfod and the Royal International Pavilion was packed with almost 4,000 people.

The opening night concert, Carnival of Nations, featuring a massed male voice choir over 200 strong, also saw a near full house while Strictly Cuban, Thursday night’s double bill of Strictly Come Dancing stars James and Ola Jordan and the acclaimed Buena Vista Social Club from Havana, and Choir of the World with Only Men Aloud on Saturday both saw well over 2,000 attendances.

The Eisteddfod have already held their Extra Ordinary General Meeting and Terry Waite has again accepted the invitation to continue as President while Chairman Gethin Davies, who took over the post this summer and became the first man to do the job twice, has been confirmed in the post for 2014.

The new Vice-chair is accountant Nick Jenkins with Selwyn Evans continuing as Treasurer and Sian Eagar as Secretary.

The other major appointment made this year was that of Chief Executive with financial and business consultant David Neal chosen to fill the role just before this year’s event.

He said: “I am delighted to have been here at the Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod as Chief Executive.

“It has been a wonderful event, a jewel in Wales’s cultural crown, fully living up to its great history and tradition.

“It’s great strength is its fantastic volunteers who have again worked so hard to make this year a success and ensure that the event is heading in the right direction.

“The Eisteddfod has a terrific Music Director in Eilir Owen Griffiths who has played a huge part in that transformation but they also have many unsung heroes,  who work for them and who volunteer and give their time to the event. They are absolute diamond.

“The Eisteddfod is a fantastic institution and when anyone thinks of Llangollen they think of the International Eisteddfod – it’s a wonderful brand and plays a big part in putting Wales on the map.

“Our task is to continue to reinvigorate the brand while keeping in touch with the traditions of the Eisteddfod.

“Eilir has built a tremendous list of concerts and the event’s strength is in that and in the quality of the choral and dance competitions but we also needed to develop the daytime activities on the field and it is encouraging that we have gone some way to doing that.

“Our other task is to build stronger links with the local economy and work more closely with local businesses and to draw down outside funding and investment into the area.

“I’m very encouraged by the Board we have to work with after the General Meeting last week and that work starts now.”

Gethin Davies said: “We have a very good team here now and we just have to roll up our sleeves for 2014.

“This year’s event was very good. The competitive elements were brilliant and the general standard was very high and that was shown by the very large attendances we had while the evening concerts were excellent.

“We are now taking a very deep breath and trying to get back to ordinary life, tired and happy after a wonderful week and ready to do it all again next year.”