Jasmine Hitchin, owner of Affordable Equissentials came to Cinch Self Storage Leighton Buzzard after a tragic robbery. Here is her story.
Jasmine Hitchin’s story began with one horse, Harry, which quickly led to her operating a second-hand tack shop from a rice trailer she named Burtie. As the years passed and her knowledge of what was truly ‘equi-ssential’ grew, so did her business; with Burtie being replaced by Betty, a 7.5-tonne lorry.
Now, Affordable Equissentials is a successful, family-run business with an online shop, regular Facebook auctions, and a mobile tack shop. The business supplies essentials for horses and their riders, at the most affordable price possible. Alongside the essentials, Jasmine also sells animal-shaped planters which have proven to be very popular. Coming in chickens, rabbits, unicorns and, of course, horses, the planters have even caught the attention of celebrities, with Katie Price now being the proud owner of a unicorn and a horse planter.
With her mobile tack shop, Jasmine attends horse shows around Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire; helping anyone who has forgotten essential items or wishes to treat themselves or their horses after a show.
Unfortunately, the running of Affordable Equissentials has not been all smooth sailing. After a tragic robbery in February 2023, Jasmine wondered if she would be able to get her business back on track. The robbery took place at her old storage unit and the entire situation was not handled well at all. This led to her wanting to find a new storage facility where she felt that she and her stock would be better cared for.
We are delighted that she has found this within our Leighton Buzzard store.
Flexibility was key to getting back on track
When Jasmine and Affordable Equissentials first moved to Cinch Self Storage Leighton Buzzard, they were predominantly only moving over personal items. This meant that when they first moved to us they only needed a small unit but knew that as they persevered and got back on track they would need to move to a bigger unit.
‘Flexibility with the space that can be offered has been of help because when we first moved stuff over it was predominantly personal items so we started off in a smaller unit. The team was amazing and said “We can be adaptable and move with your needs” and now we are in a much bigger unit.’
With our storage, we only offer flexible rental contracts as we know all businesses need flexibility in order to grow.
Reassurance
After all that Jasmine has been through, there was an obvious need for her to feel reassured that our self-storage would provide her with the safe space she and her business needed.
‘There’s that reassurance that they know us and if we have parcels delivered there, they will look out for it. We had a delivery the other day and they kept it to one side to keep it safe. It just feels really safe there.’
We are so happy to have provided Jasmine with peace of mind that her stock and deliveries are secure. With intruder alarms, smoke and fire detectors and site-wide 24/7 CCTV around the entire facility, you can rest assured that your belongings are safe with us.
Excellent customer service
Moving into her unit with us came at a time when Jasmine needed reassurance. Our friendly team were able to offer her the knowledge that her belongings were secure and support in rebuilding her business.
‘Cinch Storage has been amazing. We can’t fault them. They have been so helpful. We can’t thank them enough.’
We wish that we had met Jasmine under better circumstances but we are so happy to be working with her now and to be helping her build her business back up.
If you would like to know more about Affordable Equissential, head over to their website or Facebook.
If you would like to know more about our storage in Leighton Buzzard, give the team a call on: 01525 219899 or click here for more information.