Siesta's Story

The story began in 1983 when Chris and Les met in Mexico whilst working as teachers. After spending a year or so together in Mexico they decided to come home to the UK. Unfortunately, by that time the Mexican economy had taken a drastic downturn. So Les and Chris decided to invest the pesos that they had saved, buying some traditional local crafts and clothing to bring back home to sell at the local boot fair!

Luckily, the stock they brought back with them was a hit, so they kept buying more and more! It wasn't long before they realised there might be longevity in the business and they found a bricks and mortar store in Canterbury.

At first, travelling to the wonderful countries we buy from was
a two-person job, but over time, Chris and Les found themselves
travelling with their young children Jo and Tim, plus Chris’ mum to help
look after the kids whilst they were working!

Travelling to and from the same
countries and suppliers with the whole family for over 30 years has cemented many
relationships across the world. Quite often when we travel now, it is as much
of a reunion as it is for business!

Today you’ll see that we now import directly from suppliers in countries all over the world including; Mexico, Guatemala, Peru, India, Bali, Nepal and Thailand.

We are stocked by many lovely shops all over the country (and some abroad!), and we also have our own lovely green shop in Canterbury. It’s become a bit of a landmark in town!

We continue to visit nearly all our suppliers in person, and for those that we aren’t able to, we have trusted buying agents who work very closely with the makers. You can read about our buying trips on our blog, where we also provide lots of interesting background on how our handicrafts are made and the people who make them.

Nepal

India

Mexico

Kenya

Guatemala

Nepal

Peru

Bali

Thailand

Ghana

Siesta remains a family run business, as Les and Chris’ children caught the bug whilst travelling with their parents; Jo and Tim have worked at Siesta for most their lives and their role in the business has expanded over the years. And now even the grandchildren are joining in on the buying trips!

We are incredibly proud to have kept this Fair Trade business running for over 40 years; employing lots of lovely people in the meantime – some of whom have worked for us for over half that time, whilst simultaneously supporting the local communities and craftmanship in the far-away places that we hold very close to our hearts.

If you have ever been a customer of Siesta, we want to thank
you for your support and we’re looking forward to many more years to come!