New businesses pop up in Derry: MadeInCity Crafts and Greek cuisine

Businesses everywhere have had to adapt to a new form of distribution, but the restrictions on local business and employment hasn’t stopped some people maintaining their livelihoods.

Stephanie Bradley is an aspiring entrepreneur and has worked in the hospitality sector for ten years. Just under a month ago Stephanie created her shop Made-in-City Crafts. The items are stylish crafts made for home interior.

“This is the first time since I was 15, that I haven’t been working,” Stephanie says.

“Last July I was made redundant from my nine to five because of Covid. It can be difficult looking for anything new. You are trying to pick up new hobbies and interests to make the time go by.”

Some of the quirky pieces made by Stephanie centre around female empowerment and body positivity. She hopes to promote more discussions on these topics.

“I’ve always been interested in doing things like knitting and crocheting. My granny tried to teach me to knit when I was younger, but I was never very good at it. I struggled with the needles. Then I came across macramé which is essentially just tying knots and no needles necessary. It’s all with your hands and very therapeutic.

“The more I kept doing it, the more people kept saying ‘you should setup a page.’ After a while I decided well, why not give it a go. If anyone is interested in it, all the better.”

A total of 10% of profits from Stephanie’s ‘Mastectomy’ piece is donated to Pretty N Pink NI and Cancer Research UK. Stephanie believes such charities are something we should “all be conscious of.”

“You realise now that the NHS are really going to struggle to recover from everything. A lot of cancer surgeries are being cancelled and not everyone can go private,” she said.

“When it comes to issues around breast cancer and woman’s health, there will be a lot of things that are going unnoticed at the minute.”

Stephanie said she knew many in-patient’s surgeries have been cancelled since March last year, and that’s not including out-patient ones. “There is going to be a massive backlog and lot of people waiting for very important treatment.”

You can follow Made in City Crafts on Facebook or Instagram. There are a range of items that can be purchased at www.etsy.com/uk/shop/MadeInCityCrafts.

New Greek restaurant

Meanwhile a new food restaurant named Greek Mediterranean Kitchen and Delicacies Food Store has opened up on Spencer Road in the Waterside. Owner Nikolaos Rizos says “love” brought him to Derry to fulfil his passion for food.

“My partner has worked in Derry for almost four years,” he said. “The decision to open the Greek food business started gradually. It started properly two months ago and business was opened one month ago. For the moment we’ve four staff. But we’re trying to find more staff to train. We want to find the correct person for this type of food business.”

Nikolaos moved to Ireland in September. His partner Loana Virtej has been working in Derry as a doctor. Loana feels it “has been the right time” to explore this new adventure.

“I’m a doctor here, but I’m related to the food business. We’re partners and this is what has brought Nikos here to Derry,” she said.

“We had unforeseen circumstances with Brexit. But with a little bit of persistence, luck and good faith, we have found fast solutions. The current chef is from here, he is local and was trained by Nikos. He has many things to learn and he has been enthusiastic.”

For 20 years Nikolaos had an office in an area of Greece named Trikala working as an accountant, but cooking is in the genes and with his new business venture in Derry he promises to deliver “more surprises” with this type of authentic Greek food.

He said he is settling into life in the north west and praised the warmth of local people.

“My family have had Greek restaurants for 40 years now. It is in my DNA to cook, I like to cook,” he said. “I would like to thank the people here for embracing this. In a quick way they’ve started to trust and like this type of kitchen.

“It is an important acknowledgement for this part of the world with good people making you feel well here. I enjoy the nature and the walks here, getting to know this part of Ireland. I will miss the walks because of the increased volume of work. I would like to see much more, visit much more and learn much more about everything here.”

To sample some of the amazing food on offer and to find out more, visit the Greek Mediterranean Kitchen and Delicacies Food Store’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/Greek-Mediterranean-Kitchen-and-Delicacies-