Many The Only Way Is Essex stars took up the Brentwood high street with their own shops, but some haven't been so successful over the years. After first starting 15 years ago, at one point, there were 12 shops which were owned by TOWIE alumni.
As well as becoming reality stars, some of the show members thought they'd also open their own shops and salons alongside appearing on the show. Many fans have heard of the infamous vajazzle or the TOWIE tan and those who loved the show took themselves down to Brentford to get the full TOWIE treatment.
At the height of the show, TOWIE managed to attract 1.7million views per episode but more recently there has just been 50,000 live views. However, it is still going as the 35th series has just wrapped.
Sam and Billie Faiers were some of the stars who chose to open up their own shop; Minnie's Boutique. The shop was located on Brentwood High Street in 2011.
They co-owned the shop alongside their auntie Libby Wells, who told the Daily Mail about their business: "My nieces had just started Towie. They told the producers about my shop and that was it. It catapulted the business." The shop has now moved online.
Another business in Brentwood was Amy Childs' beauty salon called Amy Childs Salon which opened its doors in November 2011 before she then opened a clothing boutique in September 2012. One iconic treatment that she offered at the salon was the vajazzle.
The treatment involved glueing diamantés to a woman's pubic region, and overall, the salon did around 350,000 of them. One person who famously got one was TOWIE favourite Gemma Collins.
Gemma also went on to open her own clothing shop which was aimed at plus size women in 2013. It was then unveiled that some of the clothes came from a wholesalers in East London and the prices were marked up by 300 per cent.
Other TOWIE businesses included Deuces Bar and Lounge in Chigwell which was run by Mark Wright and Jack Tweed. Lucy Mecklenburgh opened Lucy’s Boutique in 2011, while Harry Derbridge was the owner of Harry’s World in 2012 which is now a barbers.
Dino and Georgio Georgiades owned GX2 which sold health and fitness supplies the same year. 2013 saw one of the most successful businesses which was Joey Essex's shop called Fusey.
He sold a mixture of products including clothing and souvenirs and managed to made a huge £420,000 in just a year.
Charlie Sims set up Charlie's Deli back in 2014 while his siter Chloe opened Chloe’s Beauty Bar the following year. James Argent's ex-girlfriend Lydia Bright has vintage clothing store, Bella Sorella, in 2011 but this is now a vape shop.
