Indie Opinion - Diary of a Toy Shop by Amanda Alexander, owner of Giddy Goat Toys in Manchester

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Diary of a toy shop

Amanda Alexander, owner of Giddy Goat Toys in Didsbury, Manchester, ponders on the varied skillset of the independent toy retailer

Aschool teacher friend came into the shop for a chat during the recent half term. As she turned to leave, she said: “So, what will you do now? Will you just go on your phone?”

Baffled by her comment, I asked “what do you mean?’’. She replied: “So, do you just mess around on your phone now until a customer comes in?’’ After I stopped laughing, I explained to her that actually, no, I had a lot of stuff I needed to do.

I had orders to place, a pile of invoices to add to my accounts system, some bills to pay, and a whole bunch of new products to put on the website - plus about 100 emails to wade through, paperwork to file and a pile of catalogues that I’d like to read but was expecting a delivery (in which case, I would have to unpack that, price it up, and put it out on the shop floor). I also needed to look at my energy contracts as they were due for renewal.

You really do wear a lot of hats running a small business and, on the occasions when I wonder if I should or could get a ‘proper’ job again, I worry that employers won’t want someone who has worked for themselves. But actually, we have a very varied skillset. Marketing, accounts, customer services and purchasing are the obvious ones, but there are many other skills required to run a shop, however small.

During lockdown I also had to pick and pack all the online orders - and my Business life admin is “ no more fun than personal life admin, and if I run out of tea bags at work, I’m likely to have a staff walkout “

Amanda on a staff night out with her growing team of ‘Giddies’

addiction to the game of Tetris while a student turned out not to have been a total waste of hours after all. There’s something really satisfying about neatly packing various items of different shapes and sizes securely into an appropriately sized box, and I have to say many online retailers should incorporate Tetris playing into their staff training programme, because I’ve seen some shockingly packed boxes or parcels that arrive in ridiculously oversized boxes, with loads of packing paper - which I merrily recycle and reuse in my shop!

I love the variety that running your own business requires but of course, I like some jobs more than others. Obviously, interacting with customers and buying new stock are always going to rank higher than choosing a new broadband supplier and organising the annual PAT [Portable Appliance Testing]. But you really do need to have an overview on everything.

Business life admin is no more fun than personal life admin, and if I run out of tea bags at work, I’m likely to have a staff walkout. Or if I don’t get bills paid on time, I risk being in trouble with the HMRC or losing the respect of suppliers.

When we moved from being purely a bricks-and-mortar retailer to an online retailer during Covid, I added a few more hats to the hat box: order packing (of course) but also improving my marketing, digital and social media skills to reach a wider demographic. I also spent more time considering health and safety and staff welfare once the shop reopened.

Having everyone back in work - and taking on some part-timers - has meant I’ve been able to outsource not only some jobs I’m not so keen on, but also things I realise other people are better at. I’m lucky to have a lady called Ruth who does the card and gift-wrap buying. She has a great eye for detail, creates fantastic window displays, and generally makes things look nice (I called it ‘Ruthing’; I bung some new products on the front shelves, and she makes them into a nice display). I’ve always been a slapdash Annie - I can get through things quickly but I’m not a bowsand-ribbons kind of girl and I have zero patience for faffing with displays - so Ruth is invaluable for making the shop look nice.

And now I’ve got someone who makes the shop SOUND nice too, in terms of our social media and newsletters. Being practically minded, I tended to write matterof-fact ‘hello we have nice toys’ posts. Then, just before Christmas 2020, I took on Jo to help in the shop for a few hours a week, and I recognised that she was very good at sparkly-glittery-jazz-hands posts, which tag in suppliers and products and include hashtags. So, I merrily handed over our social media and newsletters to her, and she’s doing a fantastic job.

Another responsibility I’ve slowly started to hand over is the accounts. One of the newer members of staff has experience of accounts and admin, so I’ve been able to pass some paperwork to her. As for the packing of online orders and unpacking of deliveries, I employ some lovely students who do a few hours each week.

Of course, there still seem to be a zillion things to do on any one day. But I do remember that in my previous life as a depot manager, the more staff you had, the more time you seemed to spend doing admin, meetings and reports and not interacting with customers at all - unless there were complaints.

At least because I’m not reporting to anyone (other than my accountant, I guess), I’m still very much literally on the shopfloor, which is great and, I think, key in knowing what customers want. Although my visual and social media marketing skills may be lacking, I hope my communication skills are such that once customers have found their way to the shop and like what they see, they will appreciate the personal and friendly service and come back. And who knows, maybe I will eventually take on enough people, with enough variety of skills and experience, that I can outsource all the jobs and get to the point that I can just “mess around on my phone” in between customers. I wonder if I can find an online version of Tetris….