Former Butterfield employee Angel Burgess is banking on a change of location and a team effort for her new business.

Ms Burgess — who owned the A2Z boutique in St George’s and specialised in shoes and jewellery — moved to Elliott Street in Hamilton in February to share premises with Heaven Sent Baby Boutique earlier this year in a bid to boost business.

Now she and Heaven Sent owners Joy Hunt and Nikieta Lambert are this weekend to open in the former Pic a Pet store in the city’s Queen Street with expanded stock on both sides of the business.

Ms Burgess, 38, a former corporate administrator with Butterfield Bank, quit her job two years ago and opened up in St George’s after running a part-time venture selling handbags and jewellery for several years.

But she said: “St George’s is hard and really slow, so I closed in January without any idea of what I was going to do.”

She added a chance meeting with Ms Hunt led to an offer to share her store in Elliott Street — and a shot in the arm for the business, including an expanded range with clothes.

Ms Burgess said: “We didn’t really know each other, but we gelled, so we decided to give it a go.

She added: “Client business tripled in Elliott Street — coming into town will hopefully triple it again.”

And Ms Burgess said the new store, which opens on Saturday, had been totally renovated.

She added: “It’s a beautiful spot and we didn’t have to do any work on it.”

Ms Burgess said that Heaven Sent will also expand its clothing range in the new store, going up to preteens, while she will be able to include more clothing, including plus sizes.

She added: “I know a lot of people are thinking it’s the wrong time because of the recession, but it’s a good time to too because you get to negotiate rents.

“And fashion is my passion — it’s not easy, but it’s not as tough as people think, especially if you put the work in. If you push and have a great passion you can make it work.

“We have had businesses close — but there are businesses that are doing well.”

Ms Burgess added that sharing rent, power bills and other expenses helped cut operating costs for both businesses.

And she said: “We share ideas too — our work together is really great. We just bounce off each other a lot. I have met a lot of people along the way I’ve grown and taken a lot of advice.”