Talking Shop

Talking Shop Happy bunnies?

As retailers head into the Easter holiday trading period, Sam Giltrow caught up with a selection of indies to find out how sales have been holding up and what they are looking forward to for the rest of the year.

Sarah Borastero - Kids Stuff, Wells

After having the best December ever in our 25 years of trading, it has not been a great start to 2023, as we had a disaster between Christmas and New Year when the ceiling in our shop collapsed. We’ve had to close part of the building including our main showroom, and this has also meant that customers haven’t been able to get into our big Lego showroom at the back of the store. We are currently rebuilding and need to replace part of the roof, so it has had a big impact on our business. However, despite the disruption, we have managed to remain open and soldier on through it all.

We will be celebrating our 25th birthday on 1st April and although we don’t think the building work will be finished in time for the Easter holidays, we are still planning some Easter activity. We will be running a Lego promotion and have giveaways for customers who spend a certain amount on Lego. Also, to celebrate our birthday, we will be running a celebratory competition for our customers for which Lego has sent us three fantastic prizes. My husband, Lee, is an avid minifigure collector and we have two cabinets behind the till which are crammed full of them, so we will be challenging customers to guess how many minifigures there are in there.

I am very proud to have been serving the families here in Wells and the local area for 25 years. Looking at all we have achieved, it’s hard to believe that the business started after I emptied the loft of all the toys that my kids no longer played with, borrowed a small amount of money and opened a shop selling second-hand toys.

As a traditional toy shop, we have always done well with pocket money ranges, but because of the current cost-of-living crisis, we have seen them doing even better, especially minifigures and ranges like trading cards. There’s a queue of people every Saturday and if the kids have got £5 pocket money to spend and they want to spend £3.50 of it on a minifigure and want a specific one, I will find it for them.

Another current big seller is Top Trumps, which seems to have seen a huge resurgence. I just can’t seem to get enough in and it’s not just one particular theme, it’s across the whole range. Pokémon trading cards are also still flying out of the door –they are another line at a good pocket money price point.

At the moment, basket spend is down overall. January was better than anticipated as everyone spent their Christmas money, but February was quiet and sales have dropped off in March. It certainly seems that the cost-of-living crisis is hurting people’s pockets and they are being a lot more careful and considered about what they are spending.

As a result, and because we are having to refit the shop anyway, we have taken the opportunity to look at our stock and see how we can refresh it with some more affordable ranges and different price points. We will still stock all the major lines such as Lego and Playmobil, but this gives us the opportunity to diversify a bit and bring some different suppliers in. Though the ceiling disaster has caused us all sorts of headaches, it has also prompted us to really look at our overall offering, so we have been able to turn a negative into a positive.

Once the shop has been rebuilt, we will have everything crossed for a good summer. We just need to get the weather now!

Chris Blatcher - JAC Stores, Isle of Man

Over the Easter period we will be distributing the Toymaster Spring Summer catalogue, which offers some great promotions and new product to drive footfall. The Lego promotion which features on the front page sees customers receive a free set worth £17.99 when they spend over £50, which always goes down incredibly well. Another strong promotion in the catalogue is the Splash & Reveal Peppa from Character, which will retail for just £7.99 and will suit those customers looking for lower price points. We will also be offering 3-for-2 on Squishville Blind Eggs from Jazwares – a line which lends itself perfectly to Easter and should drive good volumes.

In terms of Easter events, we held a very successful Eugy (from brainstorm) promotion in one store last year and it was the best event we have ever run in terms of customer satisfaction and generating sales on the day. It has also generated a lot of repeat business since, so we will be looking to replicate the same event in another store this year.

2023 started off strongly for us and we enjoyed a really good January. February sales were slightly up but there was a noticeable slow down, particularly during half-term. I think as more and more people have got comfortable with travelling again, we will see half-term sales more difficult to replicate through the year.

We haven’t really seen a massive switch to low value items. In fact, some collectibles have significantly slowed down and I think this is because customers are making much more conscious buying decisions to make sure they get the best value for money. Arts & Crafts lines remain one of the best value-for-money toy purchases a customer can make due to the play value, and we are seeing this trend follow through into our sales figures.

Basket spend is up, but the number of items is level which comes down to price increases. The Isle of Man government recently announced electricity prices will increase a further 60%, which will undoubtedly have an effect on disposable income and therefore our basket spend. We don’t plan to change our buying approach drastically and will still continue to range high ticket items, but we will be taking a more cautious approach on higher price point stockholding. Ultimately, despite all the pressure on people’s budgets, I think if you have the right product at the right price, people will still find the money to buy.

We are seeing very early success with the Aphmau and LankyBox plush and figure product ranges from Character. We have just received our FSDUs for LankyBox, so it will be interesting to see the uplift that will hopefully have on sales. Stitch is still selling well, with every line from Just Play’s range performing strongly, and we are still seeing really good sales of Hot Wheels from Mattel.

The new March launches from Lego have proved successful as usual, with highlights being the Fast & Furious Nissan Skyline GT-R and the new Star Wars helmets. These products are generally under £20, so they allow customers on a tighter budget to get hold of the latest new product without breaking the bank. Our strongest categories remain the same as last year: Lego, Pokémon, Plush and Arts & Craft.

Bestsellers for us in the Pocket Money category are the Atomic Fidget Ball and Fidget Pop Tubes, both from One For Fun. Our Pre-School section still sees Gabby’s Dollhouse from Spin Master and Bluey from Moose doing well.

We have already started our preparations for summer, having taken in our Kandy Toys order, and our Wilton Bradley pallets are arriving as we speak. We are always on the lookout for new ranges throughout the year but right now, we are very much looking forward to the new Turtles from Character and we have just placed our Toymaster FOB order for Zuru, which looks very promising for later in the year. As we go further into 2023, I am sure we will find even more items to bring into the stores and keep the range novel and inviting for our customers.

Ian Bailey - Bailey’s Toymaster, Gorey, Co Wexford

After a busy and positive start to 2023, we are looking forward to the Easter period and will have some extra offers and giveaways in store for the school holidays.

We were apprehensive coming into the new year, but I’m pleased to say that sales are up versus 2022 so far. Fortunately, price rises from suppliers have not materialised as dramatically as feared, so this is a big help in maintaining

both our price points and stock levels. Energy prices have been a big issue for us over the last few months, but that seems to have peaked and thankfully there has been a big reduction since the 1st March. Hopefully this will continue. Despite the ongoing and much publicised cost-of-living crisis, we haven't seen a noticeable drop in basket spend, however, customers are becoming more conscious of value

and what they get for their money.

Our biggest increase in sales this year has been in Lego, especially the new launches in January and March, which have been well received and stimulated business in store. We have noticed that sub €20 items have been doing particularly well, especially nearer the weekends for birthday parties, and the collectible Squishmallows

range remains a big seller. Our outdoor toys are also starting to take off as the weather improves. Other than that, we’re seeing sales across all ranges.

We find fidget and sensory toys are still doing well in Pocket Money, and Trading Cards are also performing very well, especially Premier League cards from Panini and Pokémon cards; in fact, anything Pokémon is still going strong. Games and puzzles from Orchard Toys are a steady seller for us and make up a lot of our sales; I think customers know it’s a brand they can trust. We stock a wide range of lower priced arts and crafts and stationery products, and these are very popular as pick up lines.We are feeling positive about the year ahead and hope to have a busy summer. The shop is located quite near the coast, which means we always have a good influx of visitors during the summer months. We have been looking at a couple of new outdoor and wheeled toy suppliers to complement our existing range. As this section expands, we’re putting in a few new bays of shelving to rearrange our wheeled section and display it to its best advantage. Other than that, we just hope the weather will be kind to us, as this can have a significant effect on sales.

Indie viewpoint

Hoppy to help

As we write this, Easter is just under three weeks away, and sales continue to be better than anticipated. We have definitely been helped by several days of teachers’ strikes, as those days have been like a single day half term - and have not harmed the weekend trade either.

The bestsellers continue to be dominated by Pokémon and Squishmallows. We’ve had a mix of the two with Pokémon Squishmallows; these have been really well received, with Pikachu and Gengar plush selling out within days of being launched. It is amazing how many Mums will have received a Lego Flower Bouquet for Mothers’ Day this year – they were in our bestsellers in the week running up to Mothering Sunday. We are also seeing high sales across all football card collectibles, including the Premier League stickers and the Adrenalin XL cards.

We have still been out and about a bit; the recent Toymaster Regional Meeting was a very positive day for us. There were lots of good offers from suppliers, and a good FOB programme focused on popular Zuru lines. Most other members we spoke to seemed pretty happy with trade so far this year. The day was rounded off with a nice carvery, which is always appreciated!

The next couple of months involve a bit of planning, with five bank holidays coming up. For Easter, we are organising events out in our malls, to help drive footfall. Easter is always a bit of an unpredictable time – it’s nice to have sunny weather, but footfall and sales are a lot better when the weather is more unsettled. We are still deciding what to do on King Charles’ Coronation Day. We expect to be opening for reduced hours but are waiting for more details before we make a final decision. Hopefully the occasion will bring a feel-good factor back to people and encourage them to come out and spend.

Pocket Money and Collectibles is still a massive category for us. We benefit from the fact it’s a category that is difficult for larger retailers to do very well, and we find it has good profit margins. One of the bestsellers for us (especially at Easter), is the bouncy egg – although they do end up all over our store! Anything squishy or squidgy is still very popular, and it’s essential to keep traditional lines such as marbles and whoopee cushions in stock all the time, as these always sell. Slime and putty are still popular, and Crazy Aaron’s Thinking Putty is selling very well. As the weather improves, anything to do with bubbles is popular; these are great pick-up lines.

In the collectibles category, there have been several new ranges that have impressed so far, with Aphmau and LankyBox from Character proving very popular. It is good to see some new ranges coming through. We are also seeing strong sales on collectible lines featuring Stitch from Lilo and Stitch, he is proving to be extremely popular with whatever products he is featured on.

Even though sales are positive, concerns remain for all our staff and customers regarding the cost of living, especially energy bills and food. To help our staff where possible, we have looked at an early pay increase ahead of April, keeping our pay above the national living wage. One positive for us is the new business rates bills from April. Our stores will have a reduction from then which will help to bring them in line with where they should be. The savings from this will help to offset some of the increase in staff costs, and we’re happy that this means we will be able to support our staff through these times.