Predicting the future at Seppenfelts

Jess Bartholomew, Isabel Shapcott and Linda Pittard have worked with other Seppenfelts staff to plan a new era for the Deloraine store.

Photo by Hayley Manning

By Sharon Webb

If Seppenfelts’ owners Isabel Shapcott and Alfred Franssen had drawn a Viking rune at the beginning of the COVID-19 era to predict events, it surely would have been Uruz.

Uruz is the rune of terminations and new beginnings, opportunity disguised as loss.

Instead of them despairing over being forced to close Seppenfelts, Isabel and Alfred led a renewal of their Deloraine shop with help from assistant manager Linda Pittard.

For years they had considered having a website but didn’t have the resources to make it happen. Lo and behold, during COVID-19 it eventuated, created with the help of Deloraine resident Pearl Maya.

‘Everyone was very stressed at first but the break from running the shop every day gave us the opportunity to step back and reassess our options,’ Isabel said.

‘We surveyed our staff, spent time looking at aspects of the business we liked and re-
evaluated stock that didn’t reflect our philosophy.’

Seppenfelts devotees will be able to see the result of this reflective, introspective process when the store relaunches on August 1 with new products and new events.

Some products have vanished, replaced with others following Sepps’ ethical, sustainable philosophy. A more select range of women’s clothes, for example, because of the well-publicised wastage in the fashion industry.

‘I’m feeling inspired about using the Little Laneway for more events, enriching the ambience of the area,’ Alfred said.

‘And I’m excited about our plan to sell plants and organic vegetable seedlings propagated in my greenhouse, along with medicinal herbs and natives.’

Along with the plants will be new products: Tasmanian ceramic and terracotta garden products, tiles, ventilation bricks, decorative pots and traditional garden edging. And others such as local gardening guru Steve Solomon’s Tasmanian gardening guides and organic fertiliser, the biodynamic sowing calendar and books on sustainable living.

The new direction will build on Seppenfelts’ well-known sense of community.

‘Socialising, sharing information, networking and being uplifting in the community is important to us,’ Isabel said.

‘On August 1 we’re starting a series of cuppa mornings for locals to hear a guest speaker and exchange ideas. The first one will be with local herbalist Sandra Parker who will demonstrate homemade incense.

‘Hank Horton will officiate in a welcome ceremony using smudge and telling us what a welcome to country really means. And local musicians will perform on the day.

‘As we make these changes we’re open to being responsive to the community. We want to hear people’s ideas.’

Isabel is clear that this revitalising of Seppenfelts could not have happened without government support.

‘We received a state government small business grant. Without that and the JobKeeper package I’d never have been able to afford staff to upload our books and winter woollies onto the new website. I’m enormously grateful for that opportunity,’ Isabel said.

Linda Pittard believes that the COVID-19 break, where Seppenfelts closed its doors and opened only by appointment, opened up the possibility for the team to move in a direction they’d always wanted.

‘We had time and space to think about how to respond,’ she said.

But some things never change. In case you’re wondering, Sepps’ mindblowing chocolate-coated coffee beans will still be available, and many other products customers have come to love.