This week it was born again as Cariad. Behind the re-birth are Britt Sutton and Glenda Taylor, two of the UK's most remarkable business women.

Finnish-born Britt first came to Britain for a short spell as an au pair.

But she fell in love with an Englishman, married him and has lived in and around Kingston ever since.

In 1988 she gave up her job as training manager of Chanel Beauty to open Britain's first Secret Garden aromatherapy franchise.

It was in Kingston's Apple Market, and Britt ran it so successfully she was named Britain's top woman franchisee.

In 1993 she took a shop in the new Bentall Centre and launched Aroma Secrets, which soon became a byword for aromatherapy oils and treatments.

Meanwhile Glenda Taylor, after years as a successful ballet dancer, was busy qualifying in massage, aromatherapy and other therapies, and treating clients at her home in Thames Ditton.

So many people wanted to buy her Cariad treatment oils she opened a shop in Thames Ditton.

This flourished and Haydn, her husband, gave up his career as a theatre technical director to join her in the business.

Now they have an HQ and wholesale distribution centre in Walton, a training school (the Cariad Academy) in Richmond and the services of a factory in Lincolnshire where Lynda's products are made to her specifications. These are now stocked by retailers nationwide, including Tesco.

Coincidence

Then coincidence took a hand. Glenda met Britt, a former neighbour in Thames Ditton, and remarked that Cariad needed a shopfront.

Britt replied that her shop was ready for a new look.

So a deal was done: Cariad would provide the new look if Britt would use their name and products.

It should be a winning formula. Cariad products are a proven success, and how many women - or men, come to that - are individually operating small independent shops in a major shopping centre, with rates and rentals to match?

It's floored many national giants, but Britt's been more than equal to the challenge for more than a decade.