A NUMBER of businesses in Craig-y-Don are staying open for late night shopping on each Thursday before Christmas, which started yesterday evening (November 17).

They will be staying open until 8pm on November 24, and December 1, 8, 15 and 22.

Shops staying open include:

• Coffee V.

• Ballooning Marvellous.

• The Quilting Bee.

• Salon 81.

• Salon Twenty Two.

• Feet First.

• Give A Little Gift Shop.

• Hush.

• Darcey’s Interiors (main organiser).

• Casa Reme Delicatessen.

• Ascot Taprooms.

The Quilting Bee will also be hosting Thursday night workshops for customers to try their hand at sewing themselves.

Rhian Hastings, of Coffee V, said her café will also host a “very special visitor”, with a white beard and dressed in a red suit, each Thursday from December 1.

She also credited Sam Price, co-owner of Darcey’s Interiors, with spearheading the idea, and hopes it will boost Craig-y-Don’s trade and popularity.

Rhian said: “It was Sam from Darcey’s who came across to me and asked if we’d be interested in doing something.

“I said yes, because it’s something I would’ve liked to do in Craig-y-Don for a while now.

“As much as we’re a part of Llandudno, we kind of get forgotten about a little – the amount of times customers have said to me in the last eight years: ‘How long have you been here?’ or ‘We didn’t know you were here’…

“There’s no signage on the prom to say there are shops or anything, so that’s something we’ve tried to pursue, and we’d like a Christmas tree in Craig-y-Don.

“We’re just trying to be available, and see if an evening is any more accessible for people. There are lots of little independent businesses who all need supporting.

“Business is ticking over; I’m very lucky that I’ve got lots of locals and regulars who support us, but I think these next couple of months, with Christmas looming and the cost of living rising, are definitely going to be telling.”

Rhian normally opens Coffee V at 8.45am and shuts at 3pm, meaning she will be doing an additional five hours of business for the next few Thursdays.

Their “special visitor”, meanwhile, will return to the café every Thursday from 4.30-8pm from December 1, and for £5 per child, children can explain to him whether they’re on the naughty or nice list this Christmas.

She added: “It’s all going be quite chilled and informal, with things like gingerbread men, Christmas cakes, and Christmas coffee.

“Hopefully, it’ll be worthwhile and will maybe get different people coming into Craig-y-Don, which would be lovely, because I don’t think people realise how much is in Craig-y-Don these days.”