Grace Micklewright opened Birch Citrine in autumn 2019 after nearly a decade buying for a department store group. The job was good, but the brief was always the same: volume, margin, trend. She kept noticing the gap between what the women around her actually wanted to wear and what the market kept offering them. She left with a list of twelve makers she trusted, a clear idea of what the shop would not stock, and a lease on a quiet street that felt right the moment she walked in.
The first year was a lesson in restraint. Grace deliberately kept the floor sparse, which made some early visitors nervous. But the regulars who came back understood it quickly: fewer pieces meant she could know each one properly, talk about the fabric weight, the washing instructions, the way the collar sits after six months of wear. The alterations service started almost by accident when a customer bought a coat that was perfect in every way except the sleeve length. Grace called in a favour from a seamstress she had worked with in her buying days, and it became a permanent part of how the shop operates.
Seven years in, Birch Citrine carries around sixty garments at any one time, alongside a small selection of accessories and a rotating shelf of ceramics and home objects that Grace picks up on buying trips. The ethos has not shifted: natural fibres, documented makers, honest pricing, and a floor where you are never followed around. If you want help, someone is always there. If you want to browse quietly, that is equally fine.
Grace Micklewright spent eight years as a buyer for a mid-size department store group before leaving to open Birch Citrine in 2019. She trained in textile sourcing in Florence and later worked closely with a small knitwear atelier in the Scottish Borders, which is where her preference for natural fibres and considered construction took root. The boutique grew out of a frustration she could not shake: that most shops stocked either fast fashion or inaccessible luxury, with very little in between for women who wanted to dress well without theatre. Outside the shop, Grace reads obsessively about colour theory and keeps a small vegetable garden that she says informs her seasonal palette more than any trend report.