OWNER & FOUNDER
Sam Black
Hello everyone! I'm Sam and I'm the owner and founder of Coastal Hampers.
Originally from The Wirral, I moved up to the North East 10 years ago and I've never looked back (sorry Mum!).
I lived in Newcastle for most of that time, but moved out to the coast in 2020 after spending far too much on petrol heading out to Longsands every week!
I was working as a teacher at the time, and working in a school in the middle of a pandemic was pretty strange to say the least, but it opened my eyes as to the importance of having your local community right by your side in times of need.
As shops were forced to close during lockdowns, I wanted to do something to support the amazing local businesses we have in the area, and the idea of putting together a local Christmas hamper came to me... and Coastal Hampers was born!
I put together a Christmas gift hamper containing products from 10 local businesses and the response was phenomenal! Seeing so many people wanting to support local made me so proud to live in the North East.
As the orders came flooding in, I would spend my days teaching and every night delivering the hampers around the North East in my little Ford Fiesta, all the way from Newton Aycliffe up to Rothbury and everywhere in between. It was so much fun and really gave a bright end to a truly miserable year. Here I am in the 'stockroom' AKA my bedroom at the time!
As we continued to expand throughout 2021 & 2022, we began working with many other businesses in the North East offering bespoke hampers as corporate gifts for employees and clients. This led to us partnering with the NHS and providing their staff with over 12,000 hampers, whilst also working alongside many other established businesses in Newcastle, Sunderland, Durham, Northumberland and beyond!
We have supported over 60 local businesses in the North East so far, and these figures will continue to rise as we expand further. We also now sponsor local North East football team West Moor & Jesmond and have worked alongside some great North East charities as we try and keep everything we do as close to heart as possible here in the North East.
We also provided personalised gifts for the owners, management and executive staff at NUFC during Autumn 2023, quite a proud moment for ourselves!
Thank you so much for listening to my story and I hope we can all continue to support the fantastic local businesses we have on our doorstep.
Much love,
Sam x
