8 minute read
Retailers’ Panel
Gifts Today RETAILERS’ PANEL
Four independent retailers reveal insights into their businesses, including plans and trading predictions for the all-important peak selling season
L-R: Jen Wells and Sarah Killick
Jen Wells & Sarah Killick
Directors A little Mooch Allestree, Derby
We are a small independent gift shop run by two best friends. We started working together in retail 25 years ago and were made redundant a decade ago. Six months later, we started our own company: A Little Mooch. We opened in November 2012 at Park Farm Shopping Centre in Allestree.
We’re often told by customers that we are a “one-stop shop” with “something for everyone”. We are always on the lookout for exciting new products to keep our customers interested and coming back. We have a strong dedication to the job and we ‘quality control’ many of our product lines personally!
We love a visit to a trade show, which usually involves a slightly manic run around on a Sunday when we are closed - although we make an exception for Harrogate which is our favourite, as we turn it into a girls’ weekend.
Our key suppliers include Fancy Metal Goods/Alice Wheeler (a range we picked up earlier this year which is already proving to be a huge success), Rosie Made A Thing, Katie Loxton, Joma Jewellery, Jellycat, ROKA, Caroline Gardner, East of India and Pilgrim, to name but a few.
We recently returned to the lovely Wild Olive and have also taken on Divine Box: both local companies that create amazing bath and wellness products. It’s always great to support local and ‘Sparkle’, one of our best-selling card ranges, is from Mill Lane Cards - which is just a handful of streets away from the shop.
Trading over the summer was excellent, with some of our best ever month-tomonth comparisons. We’ve yet to notice a dip in spending patterns due to the cost-of-living crisis, but we predict this may influence Christmas spending. We think people will still want to buy gifts, just maybe at not as high a price. Or they may even club together to buy one bigger gift with others. So we will continue to ensure that we have something for all budgets.
Looking ahead, we’re extremely excited to be moving to bigger premises within Park Farm. After 10 years in our lovely little 570sq ft shop, we have simply outgrown it. We had a flood and had to move absolutely everything off the shop floor - including fixtures and fittings - to have the floor replaced. The large empty unit that we used as storage was available, and we just couldn’t resist the temptation to relocate there and grow our business. It measures 1,231sq ft, so it’s way bigger! We aim to open for our 10th birthday celebration at the beginning of December.
The most rewarding aspect of this job is working with your bestie, doing something we love. We laugh every day. So life is good. We also love the fact that over the past decade, many regular customers have become friends
The most challenging thing to date would have to be navigating our business and sanity through the pandemic. Being shut down on numerous occasions was very hard to deal with - financially and emotionally - and homeschooling was definitely the cherry on top of all that.
Reopening was amazing, but that also came with the challenges of implementing Covid measures, and managing our own and customers’ anxieties about it: having to tell customers they can’t come into your shop as you’re at your maximum capacity of five customers is not natural to shop owners! However, we made it through, which we are so grateful for - and now it’s onwards and upwards.
Top 5 Best Sellers
1. Stranger Things 2. Alice Wheeler Soho bag 3. ROKA backpacks 4. Pilgrim/Scream Pretty multi piercing earring sets 5. Socks (“well, Christmas is just around the corner!”)
Corinne Taylor
Director Inside Paradise Nantwich, Cheshire
Inside Paradise opened in 2002 as a furniture and interior shop in Shavington, a village three miles from Nantwich in Cheshire. My husband and parents were involved, and we imported furniture from Indonesia and gifts from Bali. In 2007 we also opened a shop in the heart of Nantwich. We closed Shavington in 2010, as the recession caught up with us. During this three year overlap we started to change from interiors to gifts. We now have a vast gift range including birthday, wedding, baby, men’s, and jewellery. Core categories are jewellery, sentiment gifts, and ladies’ accessories - and proving popular at the moment are sentiment plaques and jewellery. We visit trade events and have a great relationship with many of our suppliers, who give us a call when they have new products available. Key names include Richard Lang & Son (Langs constantly change their product and move it on), Best Kept Secrets, Miss Milly, Aromatize, Gingko, and Malini, who was my first supplier 20 years ago. And we recently started stocking Clementine Jewellery and - to keep everyone warm - Malini cosy throws and Warmies from Intelex Group (UK).
Trading over the summer was okay: at times it was a little bit of a roller-coaster. But we used Facebook Live to show stock in the shop, which worked very well. It’s been a great way to show our gift ideas to a much wider audience.
Now, it’s unbelievable how consumers are affected by the negative news that’s constantly being thrown at us. People are definitely starting to think about Christmas and buying earlier to spread the cost. They are not as impulsive, and sometimes need time to think about products - and hopefully come back and buy! The key is to offer as much information as possible.
We’re excited about the A/W season: we love creating new displays with that warm and cosy look. Our windows are key at Christmas, and we absolutely love creating something special to make people stop, look and venture in-store. And when customers come back to tell us how their friend or family loved the gift they bought from us, it’s truly rewarding. Also, when we’ve just finished one of our displays and, before we know it, we have to redress it again, as the display has sold the stock!
I love this shop and everything we do in it. Every day it’s a pleasure to walk in and work within these four walls. The most challenging aspect is keeping ahead of the game and not going stale. But my aim is to stay as a traditional gift shop and not dilute it in any way. “People are definitely starting to think about Christmas and buying earlier to spread the cost”
Top 5 Best Sellers
1. All Langs products 2. Aromatize LED wax melt burner 3. Best Kept Secrets candles 4. Miss Milly jewellery 5. Alice Wheeler bags by
Fancy Metal Goods
Tania Bosworth
Director Bosworth’s Garden Centre Burton Latimer, Northamptonshire
Our garden centre is near Kettering in Northamptonshire. We have a second site in Elton near Peterborough, in a beautiful walled garden that is part of the Elton Estate. Bosworth’s is a family business that has been going for nearly 60 years - originally starting as a market garden and developing into the garden centre and nursery a few years later. We also sell online via our website.
Our gift range is varied, and we try to have something a little bit different to the high street. We are always on the lookout for something new and exciting. We stock home décor; home gifts; home fragrance; children’s toys and games; baby gifts; ladies’ fashion, jewellery and scarves; and Christmas food.
Key suppliers include Fancy Metal Goods/Alice Wheeler, Zelly, Gisela Graham, Kaemingk, Wrendale Designs, House of Puzzles, Gibsons, Allsorted and The Great British Card Company. And we’ve just started with Emma Bridgewater and Scottish Fine Soaps.
We source products at trade shows and independent supplier showrooms and have a great mix of reps that support us. Our selection criteria is based on price, quality, and to a certain degree, ease of ordering. What’s popular? Always greeting cards, Gisela Graham ranges, Jellycat and scarves.
Trade over the summer months was quiet - it’s always quieter than the second half, but that allows us time to plan for Christmas and get on top of things before the festive rush. We haven’t noticed a change in purchasing patterns in light of the cost-of-living crisis, but it will be interesting to see how our customers react in the lead-up to Christmas. I certainly feel we have a few challenges coming our way over the next few months, with costs going up for the majority of our products, and the increases in fuel and heating bills. A lot of what will sell is not essential, so it could well have a downturn for a while.
The most challenging part is often the things that you cannot control - the stuff going on around you. But the most rewarding aspect is knowing we have done a good job, the feedback from customers - and planning new displays. We love Christmas - we have late night openings and offer special reward card discounts - and we are lucky to have a fantastic team that creates some amazing, incredible displays that we are well known for in the county. So what am I most excited about for the A/W season? Our Christmas displays - and the buzz from our customers!
