Upholding a reputation

Ipurchased the business in Somerton in July 2018.

It was an established stationery and card shop, having traded for over 30 years.

Before that I had worked for WHSmith in various store management roles for 40 years, and retired in 2018. However, I had always wanted to have my own business and the opportunity came up in Somerton at the right time.

Stationery House is a traditional stationers. We offer photocopying, laminating, binding and printed stationery services. Besides this we stock a wide

Bestselling brands

• Bug Art – Jane Crowther

• Pigment - Humour

• Whistlefish

• Noel Tatt - Relation and Occasion

• Museums and Galleries - Lucy Grossmith

• Eco-Friendly Cards - Janine Partington range of stationery and pens, jigsaws, traditional toys, gifts and books. because of the unique nature of the town, we have shoppers from elsewhere in the county and beyond. The demographic makeup of Somerton is affluent - both retired and younger.

Across the whole range Great British Cards have by far the largest sales.

However, our reputation as a trusted greeting card retailer has been my main focus since taking on the business.

As I said, we have built a very good reputation for our greeting card department, with shoppers making us their preferred choice when stocking up. We source our card ranges from trade shows, company samples and reps. All of our purchases are direct from suppliers. Relation and occasion cards are ticket controlled. Everyday cards are either ticket controlled or wild.

The shop is just over 2,000 sq ft. It’s situated in the Market Square, next to our remaining bank and pretty much in the hub of the town. I have a free car park right outside the shop, which is very convenient.

Somerton is a small, very historic town in the county of Somerset, with a population of less than 5,000. The resident population are very loyal to all the local businesses in the town and especially so since Covid. Because the area is very rural we have a large catchment area of villages, too.

During the holiday season we do see a number of tourists visiting, but throughout the year,

The selection of the cards we purchase has to reflect our customer profile but also with a point of difference for all age groups. The quality of the card is also a consideration. Myself, and my card assistant Lynne do the buying together. This works well as we both have strengths in different genres. Lynne is brilliant on humour cards.

Our most popular brands are: Pigment, Bugart, Noel Tatt, Great British Cards, Paperlink, Peartree Heybridge, Ling, Museums and Galleries, West Country Designs England, Eco-friendly Card Co and Whistlefish.

As for sustainable cards, at PG Live we did view an eco card range, which we may well buy in the future as it would add another dimension to our card offering. We have just started selling some lovely seed cards from Mosney Mill and have received a good early reaction. And as I said, we do sell cards from the Eco-friendly Card Co in Newton Abbot too.

Considering the economic climate, trading is good, with constant year-on-year growth each week. The first quarter from January to March was very strong, with double-digit growth.

Last year we saw large price increases when purchasing across the overall product mix. Card and paper prices just kept increasing. However, certainly since Christmas prices have stabilised and even reduced in places. We have minimised the price increases as much as possible as we always want to give our customers value for money.

While there were challenges over Covid, we have been very lucky with sales across the shop and greeting cards remain strong with good sales growth. Sales in late December did see a dip due to the postal strike but I do still feel positive about Christmas 2023. There is some super stock arriving.

We promote the shop on social media through Facebook and Instagram. However, customer word of mouth has still to be the best promotion of our business. The fact that Stationery House is respected and established is a big win for us.

We were so thrilled to receive our Retas nomination for the best Independent Card retailer in the South West 2023. We feel that our shop stands out because of its display and merchandising, which are very easy to navigate and present the cards to best effect, plus we have an extensive crosssection of suppliers, both large and small. I also feel that my team gives exceptional customer service.

In November 2021 we opened another shop in Clevedon. Stationery House Limited - which is run by my middle son Daniel - started from scratch, the unit previously having been a New Look store. Again, considering the economic climate and greater competition (namely Card Factory and WHSmith), the store sales on cards have exceeded expectations. The shop has a large Noel Tatt planned display. It also has an online shop SHSHOP, but the only representation of greeting cards on the site so far are: Bug Art and Hype to test the water. Clevedon was also included in our Retas nomination with Somerton.

Stationery choices

We asked Malcolm (with his stationer’s hat on) what stationery he would suggest to a card retailer who wanted to introduce a few products to their in-store offering… He said: ‘’Our bestselling brands that would sit well alongside cards are:

• Pilot Pens

• Vent for Change Stationery

• Busy B Diaries and notebooks

• Peter Pauper Press Notelets and Journals

• Great British Cards Stationery & Gift

• Pigment Stationery lines

• Museums & Galleries journals and notecards

• Pens and journals and notelets are a good link sale to greeting cards.’’