A wee bit of good news from 810 Caroline Street.
The City of Fredericksburg’s Economic Development office has featured Flykup in their small business spotlight — a sit-down with Louise about the shop, the makers, and why a cup of tea started all of this.
We’re affa chuffed. (That’s Doric for very pleased, and it’s the honest truth.)
If you’ve been in the shop, you already know most of it. But it’s a nice thing to see written down.
Louise talked about the fly cup — where the name comes from, and why it matters. In Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire, a fly cup is a quick cup of tea, usually with a fancy piece alongside it. Something sweet. A scone, a bit of shortbread, a slice of cake. The tea isn’t really the point. The point is stopping for ten minutes with someone.
She called it a tradition close to her heart, and said it’s how she wants everyone who walks through the door to feel. That’s the whole shop in one sentence, really.
She also talked about the gap she kept noticing — handmade goods with some soul to them, made by people rather than machines, and priced so that ordinary folk could actually take one home. That’s the shelf we’ve been trying to fill ever since.
Louise has lived here twenty-six years. Raised her family here. So when she says this town has a real feel for small independent shops, she’s not saying it to be nice — she’s saying it because she’s watched it happen from the inside for over two decades.
The pop-ups before the shop opened made the decision easy. People were curious. People were kind. People turned up.
And the best part of the job, by her own reckoning, is the people. Customers become regulars. Regulars become part of the story. Other shop owners along Caroline Street turn out to be collaborators rather than competition. It feels, she said, like being part of something bigger than one shop.
There’s a line in the piece that stuck with us: Flykup is her happy place. It keeps her connected to home, and watching folk in Virginia get excited about Northeast Scotland — the Doric, the makers, the daft wee phrases — warms her heart.
That’s not a marketing line. That’s just what happens most afternoons in here.
Everything in the feature is available in person, seven days a week, at 810 Caroline Street. The kettle’s usually on. The fly cup is free and always has been.
You can read the full spotlight on the City of Fredericksburg Economic Development website.
And if you’d rather hear it from Louise directly — well. Come in and ask her. You’ll not get away quickly.
Flykup — Scottish Fancy Pieces 810 Caroline Street, Fredericksburg, VA 22401
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