Braintree Village celebrates workers for its 25th Birthday

With some surprise events in store for the 25th birthday, the shopping village has also been celebrating the three workers who have been there since it first opened in 1999.

Samantha McKenzie-Carter, 44, began as the store manager for Boxfresh 25 years ago.

She is now the store and training manager for Radley, which offers designer handbags, purses and accessories.

Samantha said: “Although Braintree Village has always been a lovely place to work, it wasn’t as fabulous as it is now.

Fabulous - Samantha says Braintree Village has changed dramatically as the years have gone on (Image: Public) “The shopping village and the local area has changed dramatically—in a good way of course.

"There is more premium and quality feel to the centre and guests want to stay at the village for longer now.

“It’s not just a ‘pop in and out’ place anymore, as there are more brands and experiences to fill their day.”

At Radley, Samantha leads an "incredible team” of customer service experts and ensures every customer finds their perfect handbag, as well as trains other retail management teams across the business.

Tina Breslin, 45, started as a sales assistant at Regatta in 1999, and in 2024 she is an area support manager for Craghoppers and The Regatta Group, an eco-friendly outdoor gear store.

Tina said: “In 1999, there wasn’t much to talk about in Braintree and nowhere to go—we all had to travel into Colchester or Chelmsford to visit any decent shops.

Celebrities - Tina shared many celebrities have been known to visit the shopping village, with visits from Stacey Solomon, Katie Price, and Mrs Hinch. (Image: Public) “We’ve had lots of celebrity visits over the years, including Jodie Marsh singing autographs at Wonderbra and Paolo DiCanio at Fila as they sponsored West Ham’s kit at the time.

“Other names springing to mind are Stacey Solomon and Gemma Collins, plus Martin and Su who host the breakfast show on Radio Essex.”

Tina added: “Braintree Village has always been a little community. I have made lots of friends over the years and we have supported each other through difficult times.”

When Tina first became manager, she had customer service training called ‘You are the difference’ with Alf Dunbar which was made available by the Braintree Village team.

The training has become the cornerstone of the Craghoppers retail customer service training, and Tina works to help support other stores in the area and train many store managers, as well as recruit new staff.

Celebrate - Braintree Shopping Village is celebrating its 25th Birthday next month (Image: Public) Lastly, Diane Skingsley, 53, began as a Sales Assistant at Denby, and in 2024 is now the assistant manager at Julian Charles, a luxury bedding and curtains retailer.

She said: “‘Freeport’ being built brought a lot of jobs and excitement to Braintree.

“I just remember it being so busy as there were no other outlet shopping destinations in the whole of the southeast at the time, so people travelled from all over.

“I enjoy working locally. I like it when it’s busy, especially at Christmas time.

“Braintree village has changed a lot over the past 25 years.”

Braintree Village will soon reveal more details about events to commemorate the centre’s anniversary, which will take place over the weekend of November 15.