Stan and Tracey Kay run an Aladdin’s cave full of imported British food, toiletries, greetings cards and more – but what made them make the move? Words Jackie Nicholls.
"Four years ago, we bought a two-bedroomed townhouse as a holiday home in Kato Paphos, with no intention of living in Cyprus at all – but how things have changed." Stan had been a market trader for over 20 years and owned seven stalls scattered across Essex and London.
"I was an early riser starting at 4.30am, working in cold, wet, windy and freezing conditions in the winter. Tracey worked in import/export, and then trade financing and banking.
“We felt we wanted to spend our money how we wanted to, not how the Government wanted us too – taxes were so high. We also wanted to give our children an opportunity to live abroad in the sun with a different lifestyle.”
Tracey wanted to move to Australia, but it was too far from family and friends. Stan wanted to move to Cyprus because it was closer, and they already had a home here. They began by making a couple of fact-finding trips before deciding to move. The first was to find new schools.
“The school we initially chose didn’t live up to our expectations. Local schools aren’t the same as the UK – they work very differently. We found the best route was a smaller, private school offering a British education.”
The next trip was to start setting up their business. “Our children gave us the idea. Joe, now aged 12, and Francesca, now aged 9, used to go shopping with us when we were in Cyprus on holiday, but they didn’t really like the local products. In particular, they didn’t like the local tomato sauce – they preferred Heinz. This started us thinking. With Stan’s background and all the right contacts back in the UK, we decided to open a business in Paphos importing British food items at very competitive prices.”
Read more about the Kays' new life in the January issue of Living Abroad magazine.
