Mooch Gifts & Home, Worcestershire

Seven up!

Gifts Today talks to Jon May, co-founder of the award-winning retailer Mooch Gifts & Home in Worcestershire, which has just celebrated its seventh birthday

How did you feel when you heard the news that you had won the best instore/window display category of The Greats Gift Retailer Awards 2022?

It was a huge shock when our name was called out! We are always extremely proud of our windows but the field of finalists was very strong, so we were happy just being shortlisted.

We always aim to bring some London magic to our window displays, especially at Christmas. Our window lettering is handmade by us, with real garlands outside. So they really do set us apart on the high streets where we trade.

What’s your background?

I was a local food buyer at Asda, and prior to that worked in local food marketing for over 10 years.

Why did you decide to open a gift shop?

Following a holiday in Cornwall - and having those holiday blues - plus getting fed up with making other people money, [co-founder] Luke Jacks (pictured above right with Jon) and I decided to bring something different to our local high streets and thought: ‘Let’s open a shop!’

Tell us a bit about Mooch Gifts & Home.

In June we celebrated seven years in business. We have two high street stores in Worcestershire: at Stourport on Severn and Bewdley. At Stourport we trade over three floors while Bewdley is tiny - on one floor - but trades extremely well. We also have a very successful online store (set up in 2015) which has seen a huge uplift in sales since the pandemic.

Describe your range.

It falls into three key areas: cards, gifts and home. We always look to work with British designers and makers where possible, and source products that offer something a bit different to our competitors.

What are your key categories?

Home fragrance, jewellery, ladies’ fashion, and nursery.

Who are your key suppliers?

We have traded with Transomnia since day one; their team is wonderful and their support has been amazing. We also trade with Gisela Graham, Rainbow Designs, Gibsons, Sweet William Designs, East of India, Quail Ceramics, Katie Loxton, Joma, Hot Tomato, INIS, and Moorland Pottery, to name a few!

How do you find products?

We tend to source from the major trade shows but have built up great relationships with reps over the years too. We attend some suppliers’ showrooms, and being judges for awards [the Gift of the Year and the Henries] is a great way to find new products as well.

What’s your selection criteria?

Quality, packaging, price, and suppliers’ trading terms.

What’s proving popular?

The seasonal ranges from Gisela Graham, particularly the Daisy & Bee Collection. And we recently introduced a range of wooden toys from House of Marbles that is doing well..

How is trading for you?

People shopping locally, staycationing, and having more day trips, has certainly helped us maintain pre-Covid trading levels.

How do you maintain the interest of existing customers and attract new ones?

We find social media is key, especially with our online store. But many people find us through word of mouth - or they have heard we have won an award.

Top 5 Best Sellers

1. Gisela Graham eg Daisy & Bee Collection 2. St. Eval Candle Tins eg

Bay & Rosemary 3. East of India Sentiment

Hearts and wedding gifts 4. Quail Ceramics 5. Moorland Pottery bespoke Stourport &

Bewdley mugs

We also offer gift vouchers in-store and online, a gift-wrapping service, and a greeting cards message writing service (online). Plus, we have various themed hamper boxes and letterbox gifts available online.

Where are you taking your business next?

With so much uncertainty with increased costs everywhere, we have decided to maximise sales in our shops and online for the next 12 months, rather than open another new store. However, we would like others in years to come. While space in our stores is at a premium, we are always looking for exciting new items.

“While space in our stores is at a premium, we are always looking for exciting new items”

What’s the most rewarding aspect of your job?

Winning awards is obviously the icing on the cake. But seeing happy customers return time after time is very rewarding, because then we know that what we’re doing is right.

And the most challenging?

Things that happen which you have no control over, like lockdowns. However, we rose to the challenge and came out stronger.

Winning displays

Mooch Gifts & Home co-founder Jon May says: “We always try to create some magic in our windows, so for Halloween we featured stock from Gisela Graham - where the majority “We always try to of our Halloween stock was sourced - along with sweet treats from Cocoba, Buttermilk Fudge and The Treat Kitchen. create We dressed the windows with cobwebbing and each window featured floating candles to give a Harry Potter style feel. some Each window took around three hours to create. For Christmas, our windows in both stores were dressed as lounges featuring a magical vintage TV with a moving snow magic in our scene, with a penguin family; the little ones playing with presents and mum and dad on the sofa. windows”

Letters on the windows spelt out ‘It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year’. We used a local graphics company to make them, and we applied them ourselves - which can be very tricky in November as normally it’s very cold, which is not ideal for applying!

Each store was dressed on the outside with handmade real garlands created by me: the Stourport branch’s garland was 10m in length and Bewdley was 5m. These alone took 10 hours to make at home, and then were transported to each store to hang.

Our Christmas windows take around eight hours to install (usually on a Sunday), but the reaction of our customers always makes it so worthwhile.

We start to plan our windows for Christmas in January, with the Spring Fair a key event to source our display items. But this year will see us breaking the tradition of a Christmas-themed window - we are really excited to launch in November.”