Spotlight on independent retailers: Psyche

You can’t talk about the best independent stores in the UK without mentioning Psyche. Based in the Teesside town of Middlesbrough, Psyche’s reach and reputation go far beyond its North Yorkshire borders, thanks to the drive and vision of its owner, Steve Cochrane, who set up the business 36 years ago and has built it into the leading retail destination it is today. Psyche’s flagship store is located in an imposing 40 000 sq ft building on Linthorpe Road – the former Uptons Department Store – with a more casual branch, Psyche 2, based in the town’s Cleveland Centre, and another store having been added in Durham in April 2018. This is complemented by a rapidly expanding e-commerce arm, which already accounts for 40 per cent of the overall business and which recently saw the launch of localised Psyche sites in the US and Australia. In his nearly four decades in retail, Steve Cochrane has won many an industry accolade, from best store to best store design and so on, but this was topped in November when he received the ultimate recognition – he was made an MBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours for his services to the economy and regeneration of Middlesbrough. He tells FashionUnited what has been the secret to the lasting success of Psyche and why, despite a growing ‘empire’, he will always be an independent retailer.