Dance schools across the region are slowly seeing students returning after lockdown.
With extra time on her hands earlier in the year, dance teacher Michelle Douglas came up with a business plan.
She has opened MD Dancewear at the former Galbraith estate agents premises in Kelso Square.
Michelle, 32, runs the M-Pulsive Dance studio in Kelso, with branches also in Melrose and Duns.
She said: “I knew there was an opening in the Borders, we don’t have a dance store and so all of our kids were going up to Edinburgh and East Lothian to purchase dance shoes and leotards and everything else they need for a dance class.
“With a little bit of extra time during lockdown I got planning as the dance school was shut from March to the beginning of September. During that period I started thinking about the new business. There has been a lot of work making it look like a shop and not an office and getting stock and designing the brand.
“We have had a really positive response and a busy first couple of weeks. I’m doing dance basics, like dance shoes, ballet shoes, leotards and have introduced our own branded dancewear which is for any dancer, warm-ups and hoodies, leggings, everything a dancer needs for the studio.
“It is mostly walk-ins right now, although we do have an online store and it gives people the option to click and collect.
“There are quite a few dance schools in the Borders and I think everybody has picked up after Covid, not back to normal and with smaller class sizes, but I don’t think there has been a problem getting kids back into dance and all the schools are thriving.”