The store is loved by local celebrities including Meatball Molly, Darren Till and Leanne Campbell
The Cleaning Hub in Norris Green pictured Sam and Lana with family. Photo by Colin Lane(Image: Colin Lane/Liverpool Echo)
Tucked away at the end of a busy Liverpool street is a store offering something different. Dubbed “little Spain” by its customers, The Cleaning Hub sells a range of international cleaning products, including items from Spain, Italy and Romania, as well as its own brand of items including wax melts, hoover disks and shake and vac products.
The tiny store on Broad Lane in Norris Green opened in May 2023 and caters to proud home-owners who “want their home to smell like their hotel on holiday.” Owned by Sam, 33 and his partner Lana Sergeant, 31, the shop is loved by local celebrities including Meatball Molly, Darren Till, Paul Kelly, and Leanne Campbell.
The couple, who have two children, opened a second shop eight months ago on Warrington Road in Whiston, following the success of the first business.
Describing the family-run business as an “overnight success”, Sam told the ECHO: “We didn’t know what it was going to go like when we opened our first shop.
Sam and Lana opened the store in 2023 following an “overnight idea”(Image: Colin Lane/Liverpool Echo)
“There was no footfall in the area at all. Since we’ve opened there’s a lot more people in the area – people coming in after the school run, people coming in for a cup of tea. We’ve just climbed the ladder in the last 12 months.
“People call it ‘little Spain’ when they come in. When you walk in, it’s like walking into a supermarket in Spain. People go on holiday and they want their home to smell like the hotel they stayed in.
“We’ve got the products that pretty much everywhere in Spain uses. Some people can’t make it over to Marbella – but they can always have their houses smelling like it.”
Sam said the family-run business is “more than a shop”. He said: “Our door is open to any one of the public. If people are having a bad day, they’ll call in and have a little chat to us. We’re just normal people from Huyton; our door is always open. If you’ve got a problem, just come in and see us and we’ll put the kettle on.”
The Cleaning Hub sells a range of cleaning products from all over the world(Image: Colin Lane/Liverpool Echo)
He added: “We work really closely with the community. We sponsor the under-11 local football team, L11 Athletic, and we do a lot of fundraising round Christmas and Easter time.”
When asked why he decided to open the store, the former valeter said: “It was just one of them. I can’t really explain it. The idea just came into my head overnight and it took off for us.
“We enjoy working around other people, that’s what gives us a thrill. Every day is different and every customer is different.”
The ECHO reported on the rise in Spanish cleaning products back in 2023, when a number of suppliers began stocking the products both for home-use and wholesale with pop-up stalls across the city centre and wider Merseyside.
Like several other specialist retailers in Merseyside, Sam stocks a range of the products in both his Norris Green and Whiston stores.
One of his favourites is Kifra laundry perfume from Romania, mainly for its “conversation starting” quality.
Sam said: “There’s many things I like about this product – the long lasting smell, and it always starts a conversation in the room on what products we have used when washing our clothes.
“This has become one the best selling products at The Cleaning Hub.”