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

Diary of a toy shop

Summer was a season of ‘consistently inconsistent’ sales for Amanda Alexander, owner of Giddy Goat Toys in Didsbury

People assume I will be busy over the summer as kids are on holiday from school but I’m merrily handing out “ actually it’s the opposite because (usually) the locals disappear en masse to Abersoch [a very popular village seaside resort in North Wales] or Portugal, and August has always been my quietest month. Plus, of course, there don’t tend to be many kids’ parties during the school break - although obviously there haven’t been many this year anyway.

In my fi rst year of trading back in 2010, the lack of summer footfall alarmed me. But once I realised this was the pattern to expect, I was fi ne. Even so I’ve been caught out - like the time I ordered 70 billion loom bands in mid-July, only for the craze to die a death literally the minute school fi nished (still, we’re unlikely to ever need to buy elastic bands again for rolled wrapping paper sheets!).

So, we have some precedent in terms of last year and given that we’re in beach-free Manchester (not exactly a staycation destination), I’m not expecting this summer to be recordbreaking. However, equally, I don’t want to run the stock down and lose sales and have disappointed customers… so how to plan?

Hot sellers

As luck would have it, this year’s craze of Pushpoppers seem to be readily available so I’ve bought in 47 different types of popping things from Tobar

branded Giddy Goat Toys fridge magnets hoping that while the current basket value is low, customers will recall a well-

stocked shop and come back to us later “

and wholesaler Muddleit though I know there are various other wholesalers with them, and my toy shop WhatsApp group has shared details of suppliers.

I’ve also got the lovely people at Playmobil to install one of their window displays, bought in a load of paddling pools and water guns, and stocked up on craft stuff from Galt, and games and puzzles from Orchard Toys. Plus, we took part in Big Potato Games’ Great Board Game Trade [under the scheme, which ran until the end of August, customers could bring in an old game and in turn, receive 20% off a new Big Potato game. The old game will be recycled and donated to a local charity or community].

So hopefully we got the warm days, the wet days, and the 'wanderingaimlessly-and-after-a-pocket-moneypriced-thing’ days covered.

In the fi rst week of the summer break, we were in the middle of a heatwave. Water guns fl ew out. Little groups of nine- to 12-year-olds came in, some of them possibly having their fi rst parentfree wander round the shops. And I’m sorry to sound like a broken record, but they couldn’t do that if everything was online, or get fi rst dibs on the new delivery of Pushpopper toys, or get their water bottles fi lled and told to stay in the shade, and count out their spends on the counter, and then get asked to work out their change by the crazy toy shop lady.

True to every summer (or so it seems since I became a parent), the Weather God received news that it was the school holidays and it duly tipped down for several days. Surprisingly, footfall remained decent, and families dodged the showers to come in for treats, although we found weekends were much quieter than usual.

Since then, both the weather and sales have been consistently inconsistent, and the two things don’t even seem linked. Some days we can take twice as much as the day before. Other days I’ll get twice as many online orders as the day before. Staff planning is a challenge for sure.

The Pushpoppers have proved to be pleasingly popular though, and I’m merrily handing out branded Giddy Goat Toys fridge magnets hoping that while the current basket value is low, customers will recall a well-stocked shop and come back to us later in the year.

A well-deserved break

I took a break to Fife during the school holidays, which while not gloriously sunny, was very beautiful. And although I love my job, the break was good. I’m just glad that this year we didn’t have a massive delivery of unordered stock turn up in error like last year. And that the person I left in charge of doing online orders didn’t faint on the fi rst day of my holiday either (also like last year).

I’ve returned refreshed and ready for what Q4 brings. Predictions include a massive fl u pandemic, further Covid variants and crazy stock shortages, so I think it will be challenging. But I also feel that no matter what, parents will always want to treat their children. So, whatever happens, hopefully we’ll get through it intact.