A bridal boutique owner says finding a "hand-sized" spider in her store window display proved to be the "final straw" that led to her shutting up shop altogether. Belinda Blanshard, who claims she "hasn't slept" since, fled the shop after spotting the enormous beastie, knowing there was "no way" she could shift it by herself.
Once outside, the mum-of-four luckily encountered a caring stranger who helped scoop the eight-legged customer into a glass and into some bushes a good distance away. Belinda even went as far as to chuck the glass away afterward, and now shakes down dresses before every appointment.
Belinda, who will be closing her business at the end of the month after more than five years, claims the hairy intruder was so gigantic it could have been "wearing one of the dresses".
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Arachnophobe Belinda, 47, arrived at Love Lace Bridal Boutique early on the morning of Friday, August 26th to change the front window display when she clocked the gigantic spider "chilling in the curtain".
Belinda, from Stockport, Greater Manchester, recalled: "It was a normal day and I'd come in early to sort out the window display. I went to take down these plastic branches that were in the window and they were caught in the curtain. As I went to pull [them] I spotted the spider.
"At that point, the tree remained where it was and I ran around the shop thinking 'how am I going to get that out of here?' I was shaking, it was massive. I've never seen a spider that big in my life - it was huge. It was the size of my hand.
"I just thought 'I can't do a whole day of appointments with that in here'. I just had fears of it being in the dresses. I've since said to my business partner 'I'm convinced I'm going to come in and it'll be wearing one of the dresses'."
She added: "No word of a lie, if it had been on the floor you would have been able to hear it walking. I've never been so frightened of an animal in my life.
"It was just chilling in the curtain, it was happy where it was. But I wasn't - it needed evicting. I didn't give it permission to be in my shop and it certainly didn't have an appointment."
According to Belinda, they are shutting up shop mainly for "personal reasons", however, the spider's appearance made her think it was "the right time."
Belinda, who is now too frightened to go into the cellar, continued: "It was the final straw. Done and dusted, I'm now leaving. We've got a massive closing down sale this month. Whoever gets the shop after us can deal with all the monsters down in the cellar.
"I have no idea what type of spider it was. I've been told it looks like a giant house spider, I can't even bear to look at the pictures so I don't know myself. I've been keeping one eye open in the shop ever since. I've not slept since, I'm not joking.
"I just keep thinking 'if they're in the shop, they're going to be everywhere'. I don't even like going down to the cellar in the shop, now I'm aware that there are spiders down there. It's making my skin crawl going down there to get a dress. I've been shaking every dress for each appointment this week."
Although Belinda isn't sure exactly how the mammoth spider got in, she believes it came from the basement and hopes the incident was just a "one-off."
She added: "I had a few brides who came in that day saying 'is it still here?' once I told them. I said 'no, I wouldn't be here if it still was. I'd have cancelled the appointments'."
Have you encountered a colossal spider? Email us at julia.banim@reachplc.com
