Husband and wife work next door to each other in Wolverhampton shops
It wouldn't be everyone's idea of marital harmony but it works for this husband and wife team – who have just moved into shops next door to each other.
When Mark Hodgkiss waves goodbye to wife Nina at their Codsall home each morning heading for work, he is making her a cup of tea just a few minutes later when she arrives at her adjoining business.
The 37-year-old owner of Mode Menswear in Tettenhall is delighted his wife decided to move her hair salon Nina Capelli nextdoor after 14 years in Finchfield.
The couple, who met whilst working at Beatties 20 years ago, describe themselves as 'best friends' and say the arrangement suits them perfectly.
Nina, 35, said: "Mark's really fun to be with, it's like working with your best friend. Besides we're both really busy, like ships that pass in the night, so it's not as if we're constantly bumping into each other."
Mark, too, is new to the village after moving his business from Codsall to the Limes Court Shopping Arcade in Tettenhall in the New Year.
He said: "There's been a bit of teasing going on, with some people asking don't we see enough of each other, but we used to work in the same store and that worked out all right."
Love blossomed in the Beatties' canteen when Nina started at the store's Regis salon and Mark joined a year later, based in the menswear department. The couple now have a six-year-old daughter Ruby and live in Codsall, five minutes away from their shops.
The properties were originally one big unit before the pair had a wall built to separate their businesses. "With all the hair flying around a salon, and the colour treatments we use, it wouldn't work sharing the same space as a men's clothes shop – that would be too close for comfort," said Nina.
