Talking Shop

Here comes the summer!

Our indies this month are turning over a new leaf, with new premises and developments – and in one case their first store. Sam Giltrow finds out what’s keeping them busy this summer.

David Brown - Browns Toy Shop, Bonnybridge

We are a very new shop – we only opened seven weeks ago - but we’re very pleased with trading so far.

My wife Nicole and I have two children ourselves, aged seven and two, and as the seven-year-old is severely autistic, we’ve been constantly trying to find different sensory toys for him online. We struggled, and they all proved very expensive, so we decided we had to do something. For kids with autism, toys are not just items to amuse them but aids which are very much needed to comfort and calm. I thought why not be the one to change things and stock a good range of sensory lines as part of a general toy shop?

My initial plan was to sell online, but I got in touch with a few suppliers, and many told me they would only accept bricks and mortar accounts, as so many people had tried to set up online stores during the Covid-19 pandemic. A shop I drive past every day came up for rent; after giving it serious consideration for a few weeks, I eventually decided to take the plunge and just go for it.

I’m still working as a manager in a company which sells car parts and combining that job with working in the shop with Nicole. Although I had no specific toy experience, I was still selling a product and to be honest, this is a bit more fun than dealing with mechanics!

I contacted Toymaster when initially setting up the business and they were very helpful. I also had help and advice from Ian Melville at Bright Star Toys in Linlithgow, who gave me contact details for suppliers. I was able to meet some of them at the Toymaster show in May, and we now have orders in place with a host of well-known names like Ravensburger, Galt, Orchard Toys, Ty, A.B.Gee, Bliss Distribution, Cheatwell Games, Kayes of Cardiff and Craft Buddy.

We’ve been delighted with footfall overall. In terms of standout lines, Ty plush has been a really strong seller, particularly the Squish-a-Boos. The Construct It range, which we get from Kayes of Cardiff, seems popular and the Eugy 3D models from Brainstorm are also a hit with our customers.

We have already curated a range of sensory toys – the main reason for starting the business – and it’s an area which we are looking to grow. We have accounts with Rompa and Sensory Direct but once we’re over our initial opening period and the business settles, I plan to focus more on the sensory side of things.

I’m looking forward to the summer holidays and a busy trading period. I was told the last few months would generally be quiet until the schools break up, but we have been doing pretty well, so I can only imagine it will be even busier during the summer. We’ve had excellent support from the local community since we opened, as the area hasn’t had anything like this for at least 30 years. We are also in the process of building an online presence to support the shop.

Bhav Patel - Toy Galaxy

We have undergone some major restructuring within the company since the start of the year. Things weren’t as efficient as they could have been, and I could see so much room for improvement in our processes. These changes will allow the business to grow and develop even more.

Right now we are in the process of moving all our computer systems over to a new one, and we have just relocated our Watford store, which opened last November, into a much more spacious nearby unit. The plan was never to move that quickly, but the opportunity came up and so we decided to take the plunge.

It was a very last-minute decision, so everything has been hectic to say the least. When I saw the unit, I was a bit taken aback as it is huge - the previous unit had 1600sq ft of shop floor space and now we have 7,000sq ft. But I’ve found it inspirational; with all that extra room, there are a lot of ideas going through my head. Because it was such a sudden move, the store is still taking shape and suppliers are currently coming in to help with merchandising and maximise all the displays.

The new unit has a first floor which is currently empty. We have another store in Ealing which is over two floors, but there’s much more space at the Watford store. Following conversations with a couple of suppliers, my eyes have been opened as to what we could do with the space. I’m hoping it can be utilised to enhance our business; it’s an opportunity to diversify into a category that we’ve not previously had much experience of. I can’t really say much more at the moment, so watch this space. Hopefully I will have some exciting news to announce in a couple of weeks which will change the dynamic of the new unit.

The Watford store has changed how we approach stock ordering. Unlike our other smaller stores, we have the space to have a broader range of categories and more branded areas. Suppliers have been really accommodating in helping come up with ideas for their space and provide something interesting, not just stock on a shelf. For example, we have a 5ft tall Schleich elephant which creates a fantastic focal point. Ultimately, it is features like this which draw customers in.

We have been able to expand our supplier base and, along with Schleich, Brio is another of the latest new additions. Because we are setting up the store at this time of year, rather than in peak season, it’s been a great opportunity to have the time to focus not just on filling the space, but on discussing merchandising support and sourcing attractive deals where we can. Brio has provided a stunning feature with a big wooden train, with a stand leading off it to display all the stock. Not all of that space is sellable, but it still has value because kids are excited to come in and sit in that train, which in turn will encourage the parents to buy something.

I am looking forward to the run up to Christmas this year, now we have all this space and new areas. We are only really about two months away in terms of it starting, and I’m excited for all the stock that will soon be arriving for September.

Charlotte Polley - Boo’s Toy Shop, Poundbury

After opening our shop in Poundbury eight years ago, we recently moved into bigger shop, which is four times the size of the original premises, and business has been very encouraging. The move is something we have wanted to do for the last 12 months because, although Covid caused so much disruption, it helped us grow our online presence and customer base, so we needed more space. More customers found our store too, due to the increase in shopping locally.

The new shop has given us the opportunity to do so many more exciting things: to support the growth of the website; to welcome families and children back into the shop to play and explore; and we also have a new sensory reading area where we run sensory play mornings. We are taking this even further by looking at working with some third-party agencies to come in and run mother and baby clubs. It’s our ambition to create a community hub.

The previous shop had always been successful and enjoyed strong footfall, due to Poundbury’s royal connections with Prince Charles which draws the tourists in.

We are working hard to make the shop a destination and will be adding a coffee and cake bar on Fridays and Saturdays. Retail has changed dramatically in the past five years, and I wanted to create somewhere that was more than just a toy shop and make visiting it an experience, like going to Hamleys in London. I want parents and grandparents to be able to sit and have a cup of tea while their children go off and explore.

We run arts and crafts sessions, we recently held a teddy bears’ picnic, and for the Platinum Jubilee we organised a tea party. I’m hoping that activities such as these will appeal to the many tourists travelling through the area as well as the local community; we want to make a name for ourselves as a go-to place.

Sustainability is a key focus in the shop and something we are actively trying to promote. We try and reuse all recyclable outer packing from deliveries in and have moved from plastic bubble wrap to paper bubble wrap in our own deliveries to customers. We don’t use our own branded boxes – this means any cardboard boxes that come in from suppliers can be reused.

We stock a lot of sustainable toys, particularly wooden ranges. So many suppliers are moving forward in the production of wooden toys and being more eco-friendly with the materials they are using, which we know is important to our customers. With plastic toys, we consider ranges on merit; we do stock Lego, for example, but Lego is one of those toys that you can put in the loft and get out in 20 years’ time, and it will be in exactly the same condition.

One of our newest introductions which is doing incredibly well is the Yoto Player, which I discovered at London Toy Fair and introduced when we opened the bigger shop. It’s fantastic and proving very popular because children can take the whole collection of audio cards wherever they go. We also sell Tonies - another amazing brand which proved to be a godsend in lockdown for many families.

Our biggest growth area has been with a wood range from Little Dutch which hit the market in 2020. It has been a huge hit with our customers and sells phenomenally; in terms of wooden toys, it is our bread and butter. We also stock Orange Tree Toys and its latest range – Spring Garden – has been incredibly successful for us. With wooden toys, we find that grandparents want to find that classic, keepsake first birthday present, and this is then often followed up by parents who keep coming back to grow their child’s toy collection.

There’s nothing wrong with plastic toys, but they are readily available at bigger retailers and supermarkets. We needed to have a point of difference and that is why we now primarily focus on sustainable toys. We have also discovered a niche in the market for sensory toys, which is another growth areas. Lots of parents are going back to traditional ways of Montessori play, which is amazing.

As we are in a tourist area, we are hoping for a good summer. Business usually builds steadily until September when the local garden centre begins its Christmas promotion and then we become even busier as so many people visit to see the garden centre display, then pop in while they are in the area. However, we are now generating our own footfall with people are talking about our shop. They love the decorations we have inside; our counter is dressed as a circus, we have an enchanting tree in the story-time area, a castle and farm barn, and our next project is to transform the ceiling into a vista of space. We like to encourage children to come in the store and play with the toys, and it’s been wonderful to have them doing this once again.

indie viewpoint

Mark Buschhaus and Stephen Barnes - Toy Barnhaus

Business is hotting up

By the time you read this, we will be entering the second half of the year, and it feels good to have had a regular(ish) first half to the year. We are praying for a sustained period of warm, summer weather to help shift some of our outdoor summer products, especially paddling pools. We purchased early to secure good prices, but until now the weather has not delivered, although it seems to be warming up a bit at last.

The May half term and Platinum Jubilee weekend have passed now, and we were very pleased with sales. It was busy early in the week, due to school holidays, and then quieter over the actual bank holidays when people were enjoying their celebrations. Business held up extremely positively, given we were up against last year’s push popper craze and the boost in sales as we reopened after several months of lockdown. We are very happy with how trade has been.

Bestsellers continue in the same vein so far this year, with the new Pokémon Astral Radiance proving a massive draw. Pokémon Go TCG sets launched in July, and there is no sign of the brand slowing down. Plush in general continues to be very strong, particularly Squishmallows. With new designs arriving most months, the range is still generating a high volume of repeat purchases. We’re also seeing strong demand for Ty Mini Boos collectibles. Anything squishy is still popular, with the Super Squish ball range from One for Fun and the Plush Jelly range from Kandy Toys becoming our latest bestsellers. The launch of Jurassic World Dominion means we are seeing demand across all products related to the movie, and this is having a knock-on effect on dinosaur products in general. The new Stranger Things capsules from KAP Toys have just come in and are already selling well.

Like any toy shop, construction is a key category for us, with Lego dominating and being the most important brand that we stock. By becoming a destination for Lego, we are giving people a reason to come to our store. We aim to carry the best range in town, and it does enhance footfall. Over the last few years, and especially since the pandemic, a larger proportion of our Lego sales has gone to adults – in value terms, I would say it is now at least a third of sales. If you can get known for your Lego offering, and stocking the larger sets that adults want, you can increase your customer base and bring new customers in. Our most popular ranges are Star Wars, Super Heroes, Technic and Speed Champions. With the releases Lego have coming for the rest of the year, there is a lot to get excited about - we just have to work out how to fit it all in.

Although our construction sales are dominated by one brand, we do stock others too, to offer customers a choice. We’ve noticed an increase in model kits such as Airfix over the last few months; this is another follow-on from the pandemic when people took up new hobbies during lockdown.

Dress-up and role play is an important category for Toy Barnhaus, and we carry an extensive range of products. In our range of dress-up costumes from Rubies the licensed outfits are the most popular, although we also offer a few more generic items too, which also sell well. As far as role play is concerned, we see great sales from Casdon all year round, and stock a wide range – we have sold more mini Henry Hoovers than we ever did real ones in Woolworths! Play cases that kids can use to role play different professions are steady sellers all year round; we have a selection made up mainly of lines from HTI, such as doctor, tool, police and fire service, which are always popular.

The forecast is looking promising for next weekend, so it’s shades on and fingers crossed we get some heat!