Portsmouth's smallest department store opens this weekend and it's eco and vegan friendly

But Megan Green and her dad Jonathan have put their heads together and opened the city’s smallest department store to fill that gap.

The Bee Hive will open in Southsea on Saturday September 21 and will offer the city products from over 45 traders and creatives from within a 25-mile radius of the city, from clothing and accessories, to illustrations, gifts and homeware and even has a florist.

It sits on a corner on Albert Road where gift shop Hedonic previously was.

Co-owner Megan hopes that one day the store will have the same good reputation and be as well-known as Hedonic.

The store is eco and vegan friendly with all of the displays and furniture in the store reused and up-cycled, including shelving units that were previously Megan’s bed frame.

The products are also eco-friendly, with one of the traders Aker Co., which is owned by Kathy Duckworth, using recycled scraps of wood left over from the architecture department at the University of Portsmouth to make her bespoke jewellery.

Other traders include Little Bee ceramics, The Love Bug designs, Thistle & Ivy, Buck Wild Grooming and What’s The Point creations.

There is currently a waiting list for traders that are looking to sell their items at the shop.

Megan and her dad opened the shop after finding it hard to get their work out there and sell it.

She said: ‘We’ve both been creatives for quite some time and we struggled being self employed to really have somewhere to sell that could mean it was a full-time job.’

One of the traders, Alice Tucker, who also works at the store is an illustration student at the University of Portsmouth and is thankful to the store for giving her an opportunity and a place to showcase her work.

She said: ‘This is the first stable opportunity I’ve had since becoming a student and going full-time as an illustrator. It’s a brilliant community and I’m really happy to be a part of it.’