Inside Baile Home: Heart of Interiors

Join us as we speak with Baile Home’s owner Mary McGuffog about what it is like running a home interior shop in the stunning town of Tarporley. 

A few weeks back some of the Local Life team took a trip to revisit Tarporley to do a feature on some independent businesses including Baile Home. As well as catching up with Mary on everything Baile, we also captured virtual tours and more great content of the amazing shop. 

Mary started Baile Home back in 2017 with her mum Marie-Louise as at the time there wasn’t anything interior based in Tarporley. They opened Baile on the highstreet with no real experience in retail. Prior to this Mary had been in marketing but wanted a complete change and it had always been Marie-Louise’s dream to open an interiors shop called Baile. They came up with the name Baile as they have spent a lot of time in Ireland with family and the Irish meaning of Baile is ‘home’. 

Mary expressed that she and Marie-Louise had always both had a passion for home interiors and at the time they didn’t think there was anyone doing Northern European, Scandinavian, natural products. So they saw a gap in the market and took the opportunity to open what they have always dreamt of! 

“Mum loves interiors, she’s obsessed”.

She describes Baile’s aesthetic as “Scandinavian meets English countryside meets Irish landscape”. 

After five successful years they decided they needed more space so brought a workshop on Park Road just off the highstreet, and made it a stunning, relaxing shop.

Baile Home has an ethical focus which Mary is really passionate about. They have a refill station, use local artists, independent ceramics and card markers, the skincare they sell is all earth friendly and natural and all linen items are 100% linen and cotton. 

“Everything we do we try and get sustainable and natural products, that is a big thing for me.” 

Mary spoke about the impact COVID and Brexit had on Baile. Luckily the business actually grew during covid. She explained that “Covid was an unusual time. I’m a realist and I thought this was the end of it. We were the first shop to shut in Tarporley because we have some older customers and I didn’t want to put anyone at risk. But we gained so many customers through it.” 

She spoke about how there was a big push for supporting the shops during this time and that’s exactly what new and existing customers did. They ended up gaining new customers who continue to shop with them now. 

She joked “Whilst it was a really hard and really tricky, we sold hand soap. It was a very good seller for us.” 

But the real problems came for Baile when Brexit happened. Mary’s whole business model was built on importing European goods so “it totally shafted us and has been a massive learning curve for us”. It’s now more expensive, difficult and takes longer for products to be imported so they’ve had to adjust their plan to ensure they can still get the products they are after. 

When asked if Mary would do it again and if she would change anything, she said; 

“Yes and I wouldn’t change anything, I don’t believe you should look back and regret anything”.

When telling us more about the shop Mary went into detail about how they aren’t your conventional shop, and they don’t want to be. Baile is an experience from the moment you see the grand exterior. She describes it as an ‘Unconventional business because we are family run.” She explained there’s often a baby in the shop whether it’s Mary’s or Lucy’s, another staff member but their customers love it, they learn more about the people they are buying from and supporting. Mary really values her customers, and the relationships she’s built with many of them over the years.

“Everyone that comes in, we just end up having a really nice chat. We’ve built up a lovely client base”. 

Mary has grown up in Tarporley all her life and it was only fitting that they opened Baile there. She always knew she wanted a physical shop telling us, “I had no interest in online, I still have no interest in online”. She wanted to create a place where people can come and chill, relax, chat, explore the shop with a coffee, and she has certainly done just that. Baile really is a stunning shop which you have to visit. She explained that they now have customers all over the UK and many in London that can’t always visit. To make sure they don’t miss out, she will message them to tell them what’s new in, just another special touch that makes independent truly stand out. 

Finally we had to discuss what it is like having a business in the lovely Tarporley, and to no surprise Mary loves it! 

“The shops really look after each other here”, “Everyone’s different and an independent business so we all know the struggles, we always try and support each other”. 

The Local team have visited Baile a couple of times now so it was so lovely to hear more about how Baile first started, the meaning, the struggles but also the amazing clients and just Mary’s outlook on the business. We absolutely loved catching up and learning more, Baile really is a great shop, it truly is interior heaven and somewhere they make you feel calm and comfortable as soon as you walk in. 

If you are in Tarporley or around that area make sure to pay a visit to this incredible family-run business, trust us you won’t be disappointed. 

Follow their Instagram here, and see them featured on Local Life here.