Retail Interview Paper Tiger
‘A never-ending journey of discovery’ Greetings Today talks to Michael Apter, owner and MD of Paper Tiger, which trades from two stores in Edinburgh Can you tell us a little about the history of Paper Tiger? Paper Tiger was founded in 1981 as part of the Studio One group of companies, owned by John Johnson. I began working with John and Paper Tiger in 1997, and I took over the business in 2016.
Tell us about the shops. Our stores are in the western side of Edinburgh city centre, in busy areas, surrounded by other businesses, hospitality and hotels. Our Stafford Street shop is located in the West End, part of the Georgian New Town, and the Lothian Road shop is on a main road in the centre, surrounded by some of the key cultural venues in the city, and just a stone’s throw from Edinburgh Castle and the Old Town. We have a supportive and helpful staff in a welcoming and attractive environment, selling well-designed, meaningful products that are made by authentic designers, illustrators and makers, for discerning shoppers for the significant moments and significant people in their lives.
Your stores ‘tell the stories of our products, makers, illustrators and designers’. Please explain! We find really interesting suppliers who make really great things, and then we ask them
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“Sourcing is a neverending, 365 days a year, 24 hours a day, multiplatform, multisensory, embodied and virtual experiential journey of discovery!’’
about themselves and their products! We run regular Q&A features on our Jungle Blog, which we share on social media, on the website and in the stores. Pre-pandemic we were running events and meet-ups, which we hope to reintroduce in the coming months.
You have a strong community focus as well as supporting charities - can you tell us more about this? Over the course of more than 40 years, Paper Tiger has become a well-known brand in Edinburgh, Scotland and beyond. We are approached regularly by local charities and organisations to help them with fundraising activities, and we try to help as many as possible when they align with our values or when team members have a particular affinity. This year - the Chinese Year Of The Tiger - we are working with the David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation to raise £10,000 for tiger conservation projects.
Tell us about how you support the customer journey - both in-store and online. I have been in retail all my working life and I implicitly understand the importance of consistently good customer service. It builds your reputation and your relationships with your customers. We employ colleagues who understand the importance of customer
service, and we work on it on a daily basis. It is measured in-store and online, and we aim to delight our customers. Occasionally we will get it wrong, and we take the right steps to try and make things better. That customer journey is mapped out in documents, training, and so on, and is part of our company culture and our daily operations so that consistently high customer service is absolutely embedded in what we do.
It is obvious you take great care in choosing your cards and wrap for the stores - can you tell us more about your criteria? We are clear on what we want to have on our shelves and when we want to have it in the stores, and we know where we can source that product. We have specific metrics across a number of different criteria for ranges, themes and product selection, and we use those criteria to manage our stock at a macro and micro level. We also closely monitor our customers and our sales to ensure that our ranges are working in the stores and online.
How do you source products? Sourcing is a never-ending, 365 days a year, 24 hours a day, multi-platform, multi-sensory, embodied and virtual experiential journey of discovery! We see so much stuff, all the time. I am approaching 25 years in the business,
