BUILDING a business from scratch is never easy.
But when you have a 450-year-old former sweet shop and limited funds you have to draw on every bit of knowledge and guile you can.
Fortunately for Andre Collins he is a man who seems to be able to turn his hand to many things.
There are certainly not many people who could make their own till to keep costs down.
But then not everyone who runs a delicatessen has a former profession as a heating engineer.
Andre explained how he went from driving thousands of miles every month to commuting just a few feet from his new home just off Wirksworth Market Place.
"I was working all over the place, from Sheffield down to Northampton and across from Crewe to Skegness," the 50-year-old said. "I spent my entire career as an engineer and I would be driving a minimum of 1,000 miles every single week. However work was starting to get quiet and in the service industry you can't ever be sure how secure your position is.
"My partner, Netty Waterhouse, has a bakery in Wirksworth and she was told by the woman who used to own the sweet shop that she was going to give up her business."
The building was positioned in just the right place for a deli and after checking they were not stepping on anyone else's toes in the town they struck a deal and decided to open Waterhouse Delights.
Andre said: "The banks might be saying they are lending but in reality it is incredibly difficult.
"We didn't take a loan and I used my savings and a huge amount of my own hard work to get the shop open. We sourced things like second-hand chiller cabinets for the shop but we had to do absolutely everything to the interior, like plumbing and wiring, to get the shop open."
It was a big job but the couple managed to open in April 2013.
Andre said: "I was nervous about opening the shop but I knew that Netty would be there to help, given her experience running Homemade Delights.
"One of the major things that we had a difficulty with was the amount of stock we had at the start. If we had been in a different situation, and had a bank loan, we would have been able to go out and buy an entire shop's worth of stock from day one."
But that slow build-up of stock had other advantages, such as working out exactly what people in the town wanted from the store.
Andre said: "We have a good range now, including gluten free and wheat free. We had decided on some of the products but others came about due to customers asking for them."
But no matter what the dietary requirements, one thing that Andre always tries to promise is that the products are all as local as possible.
He said: "Some places say they have local produce but in reality that means 70 miles away.
"I believe that we have about 50% of the stock that is local. For instance we have chocolate that is made right here in Wirksworth and more than 60 varieties of cheeses."
One of the major things that has allowed Andre and Netty to build contacts with food producers are the multitude of food fairs that have sprung in and around Derbyshire in recent years.
Andre said: "There are so many great producers in the county now and we have met lots of them through food fairs like the one over at Belper which we have done a few times and there was one recently at the Roundhouse in Derby which had some really high quality businesses there as well.
"The business really does become part of you. When it is yours you never really stop so when we are on our day off we will end up going into other delis and speaking to the owners to see what they are doing. It doesn't feel like work though when you are doing things like that."
And those days off are few and far between as Andre is the only full-time member of staff at the business.
He said: "There are a couple of people who come in when we have particularly busy times, if there is something in the town for instance, but otherwise it is me on my own.
"I want to be able to build the business to the point where it can sustain another person, someone from the local area, but that is something for the future."
And there is a very good chance that those plans could come to fruition given how well the business is doing.
Andre said: "The people in Wirksworth have been absolutely fantastic with their support.
"We really could not ask for more from them. We are really aware of the fact that we have to be competitively priced as there is a Co-op just up the road and over in Matlock there is a Sainsbury's.
"I think people are actually changing their shopping habits as well though. Whereas people were doing a whole month's shopping in one day, now they are much more likely to do bits and pieces.
"I do a lot of single items, like one chilli for 5p, that people can get rather than having to buy 20 from the supermarkets and wasting them. People are also much more aware of the amount they are spending on fuel and if they are having to drive a distance to get to a large supermarket they could actually be saving money coming to local shops like ours."
Through its 450 years in the town, the building that houses Waterhouse Delights will have seen many businesses come and go.
But in Andre it seems it has a tenant that is set to be a staple in the town for many years to come.
