Member Article

Liverpool space store wins Government Start-Up Loan

A Liverpool entrepreneur has secured a share of the Government’s £112m Start-Up Loan fund, for an space memorabilia online store.

Space Collective was set up by 24-year old Richard Garner to sell space and science products around the theme of space exploration and discovery heritage.

The business stocks a wide range of space memorabilia relating to historical moments in space exploration, including the first moon landing and the Apollo 13 tragedy.

Mr Garner commented: “I have been fascinated with space ever since my father bought my first telescope when I was a child.

“From that enthusiasm I started collecting NASA and space memorabilia but the problem with trying to build my own collection was that a lot of the most desirable memorabilia was very expensive and had to be purchased abroad, especially in the USA.

“It annoyed me that pieces of history could be bought only by wealthy people, and this went against my beliefs that history should be for everyone, not just those with deep enough pockets.

“So I saved as much money as I could, built the website and brought memorabilia in from all around the world together and started my business.

“This has now allowed me to deliver a service to every collector or enthusiast on a scale that has previously never been seen in the UK.”

Start-Up Loans are delivered in the North West by Business Finance Solutions, along with mentoring, business support and training from the national scheme.

Mr Garner said he will use his loan to invest in advertising, website development and buying memorabilia that he was previously unable to purchase.

He added: “Receiving the loan has really helped me to accelerate the promotion and development of my website and stock and has allowed me to build up the memorabilia that I can now make available to everyone in the UK and Europe.

“It has been a long and hard road but thanks to Start-Up Loans, it has become a lot easier.”

More than 2,000 Start-Up Loans have been delivered so far across the country, and can be secured by young people between the ages of 18 and 30.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Miranda Dobson .