Welcome to our blog!

This is Beryl from Guru. My lovely mother (Irene Maughan) and I started Guru Boutique as a small, independent retail business in our hometown, Darlington, in 1972.

Guru drew inspiration from trips to London’s Kensington High Street in 1969. My husband, Ray, and I were involved with ‘Mother’s Lament’ (a local blues rock band), so we occasionally visited swinging London to explore the music and fashion scene. I loved our adventures in the big city, where we visited places like Kensington Market, Carnaby Street and various music venues. 

I was so excited and kept rambling on about needing something like I’d seen in London here in Darlington. A place for all kinds of people to come together. Maybe a groovy shop that offered something different and played wonderful music, etc. My Mam and Dad seemed to get what I meant straight away. Inspired by things we had discussed. My parents (Irene and Rupert Maughan) opened a “hippy shop” on North Road, Darlington.

My dad called the business Quaker Girl, a good name since our town was a Quaker town, but I knew it wasn’t the right name, or even the right location, for the sort of shop it needed to be. Sadly, Quaker Girl in Darlington didn’t last very long. Dad then opened another shop in one of the pit villages outside our town. Thieves broke into Santana shortly after he opened it, and unfortunately, he had not insured the stock.

After these couple of false starts, poor Dad had had enough and lost interest, but Mam and I hadn’t. We took his remaining stock and looked around Darlington town centre for a place we could afford.

On 16 March 1972, we opened a business in a tiny unit, hardly bigger than a phone box, in the run-down Court Arcade, Skinnergate, Darlington. We called it Guru Boutique. By some miracle, we survived, grew, expanded into bigger units and traded happily there for seventeen years, making brilliant friends and having memorable adventures along the way. That arcade may have been shabby, but it was also incredible. We had fabulous friends who visited us regularly, and one of them (Tony Smith) soon joined our staff full-time. Other friends worked with us there too, most notably Bridie Lowery, some excellent Saturday staff, and the charismatic brothers Stuart and Gary Wright. Stuart worked with us for quite a while and ran our vinyl record/posters department, but sadly passed away far too young. We also met our friend Colin Harrison there. 

Eventually, after all those incredibly special years in Court Arcade, the place started letting in rain badly, and we lost a substantial amount of stock too often. Magical as the place was, it was physically like a big, old, cold, leaky shed. Reluctantly, we knew we had to move.

So, in January 1990, Guru moved to number 24, Blackwellgate, and our friend Colin Harrison joined the staff, shortly followed by the wonderful Kelly McWilliams. We occupied that interesting, historic, and attractive old building until June 2023, when, because of illness and age-related issues, we decided not to renew our lease. This means Guru Boutique traded on the High Street for over fifty years, and the spirit of Guru Tribe has been around even longer, and that spirit continues.

Our aim was never simply to make a profit; it was also to stock inspiring fair-trade and fascinating items from around the world and to bring all kinds of people together. xx

Many fantastic people have helped Guru over the years and have since become much-loved friends whom we call our GURU TRIBE. Some much-missed members of our gang are sadly no longer with us. They are my lovely mam, co-founder of Guru, Irene, and my late husband, Ray. We miss these much-loved and wonderful people very much. We have also lost other good friends along the way.

If you’d like to know more about our story, please join our blog. xxx

We also send out a newsletter called Smoke Signals to The Guru Tribe, and you can subscribe to that on the homepage of our main website, http://www.guruboutique.co.uk

If you decide to subscribe, rest assured we will never share your details with any third parties, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

We never dreamed that little Guru Boutique would survive for over five decades. I’m happy to report that we have, and that we’re looking to the future with just as much hope, imagination and enthusiasm as ever!

Watch and partake as the brave adventure continues…

 (Tel:01325 461479)

Wishing love, luck, and laughs to all our fabulous friends, wherever and whoever you are!

Above all, we value friendship. Without our friends, Guru wouldn’t have survived to this day.

Finally, here’s a little rhyme Guru’s Beryl wrote about the spirit of the Guru Tribe.

THE SPIRIT OF GURUTRIBE

I exist without religious affiliation
I exist without political persuasion
I exist without sensory perceptions
I exist without preconceptions

No nationality aligns with me
No physicality confines me
No gender defines me
No limitations can ever bind me

I am energy
I am soul
I am alive, and I will survive
I am the spirit of GURU TRIBE…

 

Below is a more up-to-date photo of three best friends brought together by Guru and still together. Long may that continue. L to R: Tony, Beryl and Colin.

#gurutribeforever