2 minute read
Indie opinion Maggie Tibbenham rides the rollercoaster of Christmas selling
An emotional rollercoaster!
Maggie Tibbenham at Imagine Toy Shop in Holmfirth, Yorkshire, draws breath after the downs and ups of the Christmas season to take stock of 2022 and brace herself for 2023!
Hello New Year! I very much look forward to seeing what you bring.
Reminiscing about the old year, it was full of surprises. Most of them very good - meeting so many new customers, taking part in agriculture shows, which went very well for me, and trying a few new products that were a hit, and putting everything back to life after lockdowns.
Unfortunately, I was shocked to see October coming. I’m sure I’m not the only one to have experienced the quietest and most worrying autumn ever. What was that?! It seemed like with the beginning of October customers were wiped off the planet and it was quiet like never before! Of course we were aware of rising costs, energy bills skyrocketing and a general tougher life but c’mon, not to that extent!
At first my staff and I didn’t panic; there was still a big hope for half term, which is always a busy time for us. How wrong we were then too! Half term turned out to be very strange. Yes, we did see higher footfall but despite our hopes for seeing more cash coming in, customers decided to spend only pennies. Literally pennies. We had one day (unforgettable) where nobody spent more than...£2!
In previous years, October is mostly the month of making Christmas orders, and getting in more special items we would normally not sell at any other time. To our disappointment, because of the quietest October we had ever had, we had to make a decision not to order anything new but refocus on selling what we already had in stock and hope that November would bring higher footfall which....didn’t happen either. It was that time which led to me having to make the hardest decision of reducing my staff’s hours.
Having no new stock and just praying for the best, mid December brought in so many people that we were unable to have a break! People were queuing and buying anything they could get their hands on, which resulted in the best December we have ever had. Games and gadgets were the biggest hit, as well as giant hand warmers and hot water bottles. As a summary of this period: one big emotional rollercoaster! Let’s hope the new year is more stable!.
As I write this, we have many empty shelves after the best couple of weeks before Christmas, and we need a lot of newness. Unfortunately, I never attend Toy Fair because of the overall hassle I’d have to commit myself to (arranging childcare etc.). But I always go to Spring Fair at NEC Birmingham, although I am worried that this year there might not be as many toy and games brands as there used to be, but I always have a look at gifts and accessories, which sell well for me too.
