Talking Shop

Bring on the summer!

Easter out of the way, the summer season is getting started, and indie retailers have to balance this busy season with planning for the rest of the year ahead. But first, the all-important Toymaster show, which everyone is looking forward to. Sam Giltrow reports.

Wayne Kincaid

Plaza Toymaster, Llantwit Major

We have been a Toymaster member for about 10 years now. The main reason for joining was to be part of a toy buying community with the benefits of buying power, offers, the FOB buying programme and the streamlining of administration.

When we were totally independent, we were a little adrift of anybody. Toymaster is obviously a community, so being a member enables you to get to know what other people are up to, what they are thinking and how business is going – both when times are good and when they are bad. If you are on your own, you can feel isolated - you don’t know if something is just affecting you or if it’s a wider problem.

As well as receiving regular newsletters, there is an online forum where members can talk to each other, which is really useful. The Toymaster show is also a great place for people to meet up and chat, and see what product is coming out, especially for Christmas. There are also always plenty of offers and deals going on, which are a huge advantage to a small business.

We have had a good Easter, though it has felt a bit strange. While takings have been pretty good, it hasn’t felt very busy. However, we are starting to see more visitors from abroad in the shop, so tourism is showing signs of picking up, which is great. We will approach the summer as we normally would and hopefully it will be a good one.

Pokémon continues to sell well and the Squishmallows range from Jazwares is still flying out of the door. In terms of dolls and collectibles, L.O.L. Surprise! and Polly Pocket are popular, and Barbie has remained strong for the past couple of years. The younger girls particularly like dolls and collectible figures that come with accessories and pets. Sylvanian Families has also continued to be in high demand over the last couple of years, and many of our customers are keen collectors. In our Pre-school offering, the Paw Patrol range from Spin Master is the star seller, and there seems to have been an upsurge in demand for Thomas & Friends.

I’ve just taken delivery of a pallet of Jurassic World dinosaurs from Mattel and plan to build a big feature display around that. We have always done really well with Schleich dinosaurs; the company offers a fantastic selection, so I think they will continue to be popular too. Let’s face it, anything to do with dinosaurs is exciting. I’m really fired up about all the Jurassic World toy ranges coming out for the new movie this summer.

Paul Carpenter

Totally Toys, Bristol

I’m proud to be a Toymaster member. I’ve always been a buying group member; I originally joined Concorde over 30 years ago and then Youngsters, before joining Toymaster.

I am independent and I want to be independent - but on the practical side, Toymaster negotiates terms with suppliers, so I don’t have to talk about price, the payment terms are generous, and the team is always there for advice. And it’s a wonderful team – you just ask whoever answers the phone a question and they will be able to answer it. They should have an award for training because they are all so switched on.

Toymaster tries to ensure that costs are kept to a minimum for its members, and they do their best to keep everyone happy – both retailers and suppliers. So, I’m very happy to pay my membership for what I get out of it.

We have been very busy over Easter. In fact, it’s been busy since we were able to open the shop again a year ago. Easter is usually a mixed bag. We are not a seaside resort or holiday destination, and this year it’s noticeable that more local residents have gone on holiday after not being able to travel for the last two Easters. However, there are also those who have had family visiting or are enjoying staycations.

We did very well during the summer holidays last year. We put this down to people not going away as much as usual and expected things to quieten down at the end of the holidays. But they didn’t and business has been great for us ever since.

I was at the Toymaster regional show in Swindon recently and I spoke to many people who were also saying the same. It’s surprising considering what’s going on in the world with the effects of Brexit, Covid, the war in Ukraine and the huge increase in the cost of living, which is affecting everybody. I don’t understand why we are doing so well really, although I get the impression many parents just want to treat their children and don’t see why they should suffer. I have always believed that people like to shop local as well. We are located on what claims to be the longest independent High Street in Britain, if not Europe, and we have always enjoyed a lot of local support, which may well have grown even further over recent times.

Sales have been spread across our range, particularly with the usual big sellers such as Lego. Schleich is one of our top 10 suppliers and we saw phenomenal sell through last year - the range has a big presence here and we work really hard to keep it stocked up. Ty has also had a brilliant year with its Squish-A-Boos; we have almost doubled our sales and take a lot of money on Ty. In terms of dolls, Barbies continues to sell well, even as an established brand, it’s given a boost by things like the Barbie movie.

Character Licensed Merchandise makes up a relatively small part of our overall range, though in preschool we do very well with Spin Master’s Paw Patrol. Octonauts used to be a huge seller and I’m looking forward to that coming back. My daughter, Jayne, now works with me and she is dragging me into the 21st century. She’s far more knowledgeable about the latest kids’ characters and we will definitely be increasing our character range.

My customers have also helped me find the right suppliers. A little girl, Rosa, who is a regular in our shop, came in with her mum asking if we had Brainstorm’s Eugy range of 3D models. When I said we didn’t she asked if we could stock them, so I had a look and ordered half a dozen types. I now have a 4ft end of them and carry 48 different types. They are selling so well, and Rosa is now a bit of a legend in her school as they all know that she is responsible for introducing Eugy into Totally Toys. I had seen them in Toy World magazine but wasn’t sure, so I’m very pleased she persuaded me.

It’s nice that they are eco-friendly too. So many parents now have a problem with plastic – not necessarily the plastic toy but excessive plastic packaging. If the toy industry doesn’t tackle the issue it is going to hurt retailers, so I’m always glad to see steps being taken. I’d like to think that if I’m around in 20 years’ time, this shop will be able to sell 100% recycled products.

Louise Anderson John Anderson

Toymaster, Whitby

We have been a Toymaster member for almost 30 years now. Initially, my husband used to run the business and we were struggling to be competitive, so when we were approached by Barry Walker at Toymaster, we decided to join.

Now we think Toymaster is fantastic. They promote things for us so well, they produce excellent catalogues and we get lots of good quality POS from them, which brightens up the shop and looks very smart. They are also always there for advice, which is a brilliant support mechanism to have. Going to the Toymaster show is also helpful, because we are meeting up with other Toymaster members and we all bounce ideas off each other – for instance, it’s good to hear if another member has something that is flying off the shelves. We are all different and that is why it’s good to hear how everyone else is doing.

We have been looking forward to the Easter break - our figures have improved, and the town is getting busier. It’s so nice to see people out and about and being in a tourist spot, we are starting to see a lot more visitors coming in at weekends.

I’m hoping that we have as good a summer as we did last year, because that was brilliant. We had just opened up after the lockdown, and it was both frightening and mad at the same time, but takings were excellent.

Squishmallows are still a strong seller for us – we can’t get enough of them, especially the big ones which never stay in stock for long. We have a big pocket money stand which is always popular, both with local schoolchildren and tourists looking for little treats; slime, fidget toys and Lego minifigures are especially popular.

I’m hoping to renovate my upstairs showroom in time for the summer. I have a lot of spare space, as we used to stock a lot of larger items such as swings, bikes and prams, but that’s an area we have moved out of, as people seem to prefer to buy these larger items online. I want to make it more of a creative area for arts and crafts, and also for jigsaw puzzles. We see fantastic sales from Gibsons and Ravensburger and also with Orchard Toys, so I want to develop our offering in a dedicated area upstairs. It will be nice to have a space where people can get hands-on with the products, which will make us a destination and should lead to more sales.

John Testori

Bambola Toymaster, St Helier, Jersey

Being a Toymaster member is a fundamental part of our business. It brings a huge number of business advantages that we, as a small toy retailer, would struggle to achieve on our own.

Some of the key benefits are the marketing materials, such as the two catalogues per year, instore POS, uniforms and window boards; the regional meetings which provide access to suppliers at key times of the year; the administrative system, including an easy consolidated invoicing process, and the product exclusives - such as Lego sets which other retailers won’t get access to for a set period of time.

It will be amazing to be back at the Toymaster May Show this year. For indies, it is the right show at the right time and provides a focused starting point for all the second half of the year ranges and catalogue orders.

Trading has been strong from the start of this year. We have been benefitting from people’s unused travel budgets, but that will probably stall as they start travelling again. We were pleased to find new customers during the pandemic period which we hope we will retain in the future.

Minecraft, Pokémon and anything Lego, especially the Toymaster exclusive Speed Champions Mercedes set, have been selling well in recent weeks. IMC Toys’ Cry Babies range has also been very strong and we’re looking forward to the new additions to the range coming later in the year. Polly Pocket and Barbie from Mattel are consistent sellers, while Paw Patrol is our biggest licence in pre-school, closely followed by CoComelon.

We have lots to look forward to in 2022 including moving premises to a larger store, in the autumn. After 61 years trading from the same location, this will give us space to focus on new areas. As well as traditional toy ranges, we will stock more niche/geeky products. We are really excited about this move and the future of Bambola Toymaster.

indie viewpoint

Mark Buschhaus and Stephen Barnes - Toy Barnhaus

Blockbusters and best-sellers

We are sitting here writing this on Good Friday, a bacon roll and a cup of tea in hand. The sun is shining outside, and we are just happy to be trading over our first Easter in three years. Most of the local kids have been off for a week and trade has been steady. It does seem that a lot of people are taking the chance to go away, and we can’t really blame them, so this has affected footfall; there’s not been a massive increase, but overall it’s still very pleasing. The good news is it has now been a year since we re-opened after the last lockdown; however, we are comparing business against the reopening weeks, which were very strong indeed. It will take some time for things to even out and settle down. With the Toy Barnhaus satellite showing nice weather for at least the next week, we are hoping that people will buy a toy instead of, or as well as, buying chocolate. We’re getting ready for the summer and have just received our delivery of Dolu’s new outdoor products, including sand & water tables, garden tools and ride-ons, which look great. If this weather keeps up, sales may even kick in soon.

We are excited about the upcoming launches for films that will help drive sales over the next few months. It has been a tough couple of years for the cinema with all the closures, which has understandably affected sales of related products. By the time you read this, the Jurassic World Dominion products will have been released, something we have been waiting for with great excitement. The Lego sets look fantastic, and we are very impressed with the great range of dinosaurs from Mattel. Along with other products from companies like Character, this should make for a striking Jurassic range and displays in store. Dinosaurs as a category never really slows down, but this year it should be even stronger. The next major licence we are expecting to bring in sales is Lightyear. If it does even a fraction of what previous Toy Story films have done, we will be delighted.

Dolls and girls’ collectibles is a big category for us. Barbie still leads the way, and there are some great new feature dolls for the second half of the year. L.O.L Surprise! is still very strong; here we need to focus on the new lines and keeping them moving through, but the range is still in our bestsellers list every week. Mini Brands from Zuru is also very popular, and the new Disney and Fashion extensions have been selling really well.

There are a couple of crazes going well at the moment, including the Singing & Dancing Cactus from Zappies (which we mentioned that we were trying in our last column). Everyone loves them. The Suction Snap Band Fidget from One for Fun looks set to become a craze line too.

At last, after three year gap, we cannot wait for the Toymaster show in Harrogate in May. It is always our favourite show, and as ever, we have made sure we have got everything booked and organised well in advance. Our evening meals were booked in first, and then we fit the business appointments around them! It’s going to be great to feel that buzz again and catch up with other retailers. Having had a good few months’ trade, it will be the perfect time of year to make buying decisions for peak season. With all the keys suppliers offering great deals, we can confidently set up our buying for the rest of the year. The Toymaster team does such a wonderful job of organising the whole event, with great attention to detail – down to things very close to our hearts like the late evening bacon and egg rolls, which we particularly enjoy. Although, we hope that they are not too late, as we are out of practice at being out for three nights on the trot! Seriously, we can’t wait and look forward to seeing lots of you up there.