Special Feature - Learning Express visits Toymaster

Harrogate’s diamonds: an American reports from the Toymaster May Show

Mike Derse is director of Business Development at Learning Express Toys. Based in Massachusetts, Mike heads up franchise and new business development, strategic planning, financial reporting, real estate and franchise compliance. Here he reports on his recent visit to the Toymaster May Show in Harrogate.

“Yes!” I thought to myself, clapping vigorously and letting out a loud “Woooo!” as an Irish toy store owner started singing: “Where it began…” on stage at the Majestic Hotel in Harrogate, England. “This is just like the eighth inning!”

Neil Diamond’s Sweet Caroline is something of a legacy at Fenway Park in Boston, Massachusetts, home to the Red Sox - my family’s favourite baseball team. Thousands of eager fans belt out the chorus in unison between the top and bottom of the eighth inning. The fans may not know each other, but they certainly know the song, and it unites the entire stadium and city in honour of baseball and Boston.

In Harrogate, there were only a few hundred of us singing, but that evening, Neil Diamond’s anthem transformed the Majestic into a stadium full of independent toy retailers and their suppliers, providing a memorable highlight of my trip to the 2022 Toymaster Show.

Rewinding the clock a few months, I had been approached by my friend, Learning Express store owner and toy retail thought leader, Rick Derr, about a similarity he observed between Toymaster, the UK’s largest buying group of independent toy retailers, and Learning Express, America’s largest specialty toy franchise with more than 85 stores nationwide. Rick had been writing a column in Toy World for some time and saw an opportunity for increased collaboration and learning across the pond. Thanks to one of his articles, he had connected online with Toymaster retailer Dave Middleton, who runs two Midco Toymaster stores in Derby and Burton-on-Trent. Rick and Dave had plenty to talk about. After all, Toymaster and Learning Express shared the same kind of customers,

faced the same challenges presented by online and mass market retailers, and served similar communities - just 4,500 miles apart. We had originally planned to meet the Toymaster team in February at Toy Fair in New York, which was unfortunately cancelled due to the Omicron variant, but Yogi Parmar, MD at Toymaster, called me over the winter holiday and invited me to Toymaster’s May Show. I couldn’t wait.

Flying from Boston, I arrived around noon the day before the show at Manchester airport, and after hopping into the left side of my rental car, I put myself into “Nigel Mode,” a state of mind named after my brother-in-law who grew up in Blackpool, England and who taught me how to drive on family trips in the Lake District. In Nigel Mode, after a quick stopover at Malham Cove in the Yorkshire Dales, I arrived refreshed and ready to learn and share with the Toymaster team.

Later that evening, my afternoon walk came up in conversation. Like national parks and other places of natural beauty, independent toy stores thrived as we emerged from the Covid-19 pandemic. However, too many tourists in national parks brought trash, pollution and other unwanted side effects of a sudden rise in popularity, and communities and governments had to modernize their approach. Likewise, specialty retailers were forced to reinvent our relationship with and position in the marketplace. Learning Express franchises and many Toymaster stores fully embraced kerbside delivery, TikTok, exclusive products and afterhours private sales, and there was no turning back.

The world wouldn’t be the same without Malham Cove, and the same could be said of any Learning Express or Toymaster store. Independent toy retailers must continue to evolve and develop new reasons for our customers to choose us if we want to remain relevant and continue to experience the success we earned last year.

During the show, I found myself discussing the many ways Learning Express and Toymaster might choose to tackle their respective market challenges. My time walking the show with Dave made clear that nothing was more critical to retailers’ success than the relationship between store owner and toy supplier. One supplier in particular demonstrated the value of a true partnership. “No, Dave,” she said, holding up what might as well have been a bag of day-old Brussels sprouts. “I know it looks weird, but you’re truly missing out on this.” Dave, who had clearly developed trust with the salesperson over many years, let out a sigh and placed an order. When asked to try another item, this time a Darth Vader toaster, Dave shook his head, noting “It’s not really us, is it?” The supplier agreed, having visited his store and researched his customer base.

A second supplier interaction showed me what happens when a relationship turns sour. A mistimed delivery resulted in an overstock and inventory clearance: bad for the retailer but probably worse long term for the manufacturer. Rather than follow up with a plan that would mutually benefit both parties, new product was shipped to a mass retailer, who put the items on sale at less than the specialty store’s cost.

When trust erodes, independent store owners take fewer chances and start to cancel or reduce orders, resulting in fewer sales, and a downward spiral begins. Neither partner sees value in the relationship, the retailer misses out on potentially good products, and the manufacturer is left selling only to corporate buyers operating hundreds of locations from behind a computer screen. How does this benefit the end consumer?

The message to the vendors is: use us for what we are good at. Specialty store owners live and serve in your customers’ communities. We see your customers every day and hear first-hand what they want to see and why they buy certain products over others. The more the specialty community can work together with vendors on being first to market with new and exclusive items, the longer that product will fuel the customer experience in our stores. Let us be the place where your customers discover your products, and we will help you increase the overall run of that item, assuming you decide to eventually approach mass market stores. Don’t worry about us then, as we will have moved on to the latest and greatest thing we’re working on together. As Rick Derr stated in his May column in this magazine, the best product feedback comes from working with a good independent toy store. Let’s work together.

Owner-to-owner relationships marked the next similarity between Toymaster and Learning Express and you didn’t have to try hard at all to see in evidence at the show. At one of the first in-person gatherings since 2019 for many, I overheard store owners swapping customer interaction stories, hot sellers, tips of the trade, European politics, experiences of the Covid-19 pandemic and much more. Attendees weren’t there just to see vendors and other business associates shopping for toys. They were there to see their friends, mentors and confidantes, just like Learning Express owners at our Convention each June. I saw hugs, high fives and lots of laughs.

Stories about best-selling products take centre stage among Learning Express stores, and that trend seems to apply to Toymaster as well. A store owner can order product from anywhere. Digital catalogues and product videos do a decent job at explaining what an item is, but personal interaction helps to tell the story behind it - and stories sell product. All of the best products at Learning Express have told a story that customers and - just as importantly - other store owners could get behind. Specialty owners can’t compete with mass merchants on order volume, but together, we give suppliers and customers a reason to walk through our doors and hear our story. Specialty retailers, seek each other out and listen to each other. Going it alone is a tough road, but together we’re capable of driving huge product trends and moving markets.

While supplier and store owner relationship development served as the primary function of the Toymaster Show, there was so much else to see and learn. I loved meeting the Northampton head office team and seeing a demo of TIMS, Toymaster’s invoicing management system. As an independent retailer, I would love to just pay one bill at the end of the month. The direct-frommanufacturer shipping programme was another area of clear competence and by itself presented a strong argument to join the buying club and increase gross margins.

At breakfast the final morning, preparing to head to the airport, I met with the Toymaster team for a final goodbye and heartfelt “Thank you!” We all agreed that the visit was an outstanding opportunity to get to know each other and learn how the two organizations tackled our shared industry challenges, but also enjoyed the rewards of working in the toy industry. We admitted that there was only so much a corporate office could do. Both of our organizations’ greatest assets are the members and store owners who pledge themselves daily to toy retail and to serving in their local communities.

I left Harrogate feeling energized and optimistic about the future of independent toy retail. After returning my rental car to Manchester airport and turning off Nigel Mode, a store inside the airport caught my eye as I shopped for gifts for my two young boys back home. My thoughts turned to John Henry, principal owner of both the Boston Red Sox and Liverpool FC. Now here was a master retailer. I couldn’t leave without two Liverpool jerseys, and I couldn’t leave Boston airport without two Red Sox hats. “Good times never seemed so good,” indeed!