A small business owner from Wimbledon says “local shops will close” if people don’t use them in the run up to Christmas.

Debbie Knight, owner and founder of fragrance store Senti, spoke with the Wimbledon Times about the importance of shopping local this year.

Senti is a luxury home fragrance store in the heart of Wimbledon Village.

The store sells scented diffusers with hand-crafted vases, including aromas of jasmine, ginger and white flower.

Wimbledon Times:

Debbie’s luxury diffuser business came to life on a holiday abroad, where she discovered room diffusers for the very first time.

She said: “The business came about when I saw room diffusers in a store on holiday.

“They weren’t in the UK at the time, and I soon fell in love with them.

“I decided to bring them home and everyone kept asking me where I got them from, so I then became a distributor for the company for 12 years.

“My own business began in 2005, but I’ve been in the Wimbledon store for five years.”

Wimbledon Times:

Debbie says she supports local businesses and is a regular customer to stores in the area.

She explained this is because “local shopping offers a unique experience”.

She added: “It’s more unique shopping local.

“You just need to touch and feel the things around you, which you can’t do online.

“I find it exhausting sitting behind a screen all day, so visiting shops in person is a unique, more exciting experience for me.”

Senti originally began as a multi-brand store, but Debbie and her team decided to take a new route after the pandemic to which now she only sells her own brand.

The stock is sold across the globe to international stock markets, as well as to local shoppers.

Debbie told the Wimbledon Times that shopping locally can “keep locality vibrant.”

She said: “If people shop locally, the money spent keeps locality vibrant, brings local employment and upkeeps the look and feel of the High Street- which in turn is good for the housing prices.

“But the main thing is it opens dialogue with the neighbourhood which is such an important thing.

“If you don’t use your local shops they will close, and the high street will just be full of empty buildings looking tired and dirty.

“Local shops support in so many ways - they contribute to schools, local charities and events, they also watch out for each other and customers.

“A lot of customers come to see the stock before they buy it, so we use the store as a shop showroom.”

Wimbledon Times:

Similar to other small businesses across south London, Debbie has decorated the store in time for the Christmas festivities.

She added: “We’re fully prepared with lots of stock and decorations.

“It will be nice to welcome back new and old customers this festive season.”

Small Business Saturday takes place this weekend and is an annual event that encourages customers to shop locally.

The one-day-event intends to celebrate and highlight the influence of shopping small in the economy.