YOU'D have to be a right silly moo to set up in business during a recession - especially one selling high end designer goods in Barnsley where people aren't renowned for chucking cash about.
But that's precisely what Cawthorne mum of five Clare Bottomley did in October 2009 when she created Moo Designs despite lots of advice not to do it.
And five years on she's proved the doubters wrong with Moo going strength to strength.
Today Clare, 52, has taken a back seat to her daughter Holly Gaunt, 26, who is responsible for building the company brand through social media and the Internet.
She does it so well that shoppers - including fashionista Gok Wan - come from far and wide.
Clare said: "I always had an interest in fashion and design and with the kids grown up I thought I'd use the time to take the opportunity.
"I'm sure if we'd listened to all the advice we wouldn't have bothered. But having a dream sustains you through the bad times, and, more importantly, it gives you that push to do something different even when others are telling you not to."
They started off with small room in the Lucorum in Hanson Street. And, as things began to take off, they acquired the tattoo parlour next door and knocked trough to double the floor space.
** The full story is in the Barnsley Chronicle, dated October 24. **
