Talking Shops

Fun and Games

Marianna Casal catches up with indie retailers to find out all about their Games and Puzzles offering, what’s selling and how they expect Christmas trading to be this year.

Jim Harding - Bristol Independent Gaming – Bristol

We’re a family-run gaming venue and hobby store. We’re a place where people can spend time doing what they enjoy or can visit to buy the latest games and miniatures.

Sales have been fairly consistent all year with the exception of big game releases which cause spikes. We have been open for 10 years and we haven’t noticed any particularly slow or busy times – trade is very steady.

Although sales don’t change much with the seasons, summer sees a rise in the sales of travel games and ‘caravan card games’ – that’s what we call them – neatly packaged and simple to play games which families can enjoy on a rainy day in their holiday caravans. Games selling well this summer are Cockroach Poker and Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza among other sub-£20 games. Once Christmas approaches, we sell more larger board games for families to play on boxing day together.

As well as a store, we are a gaming events venue and community hub. Events include wargaming and tabletop board gaming tournaments, and we are now setting up role-play days too. We’re expecting Dungeons and Dragons to be a popular role-play idea, but there are many more different potential games. We’re situated in an industrial estate above a factory, so we have a lot of space and a lot of terrain making these events possible.

The events give people a reason to come and spend 4-4.5 hours playing their hobby and socialising, and we can provide lunch and evening meals. While they’re here, they can look around the shop and make a purchase. And on the other hand, people who come to shop may see the event and realise that they want to try out a new activity. We open until 11pm on weekdays so a lot of people spend their evenings here on a weekly basis. We charge only £5 to take part in activities and on Tuesday nights it’s free. If funds are limited, customers want bang for their buck, and coming here is much better value than going to the cinema.

There are some new Zombie themed board games coming to the store which we saw at Games Expo, and we will be bringing in Cosmoctapus when it comes off Kickstarter, probably for 2024.

I don’t think the cost of living crisis will impact sales much. Board games and hobby games are not too expensive and provide a lot of entertainment. It’s fun for the whole family which is cost effective over Christmas.

The store also offers commission miniature painting, which I do myself, but I’m beginning to do more 3D printing which is a lot less time-consuming.

If anyone is interested in taking part in one of our events, our weekly timetable is on our website www. bristolindependentgaming.co.uk

Phil Heath - Heaths Toymaster - Barrow-in-Furness

Summer sales have been a little better than they usually are at this time of year. On the games front, some of our best-sellers have been Mattel’s Uno and Winning Moves’ Pass the Pigs – basically anything that is portable and that you can fit in your bag. It helps that there are options for all ages at affordable price points. We have also seen good sales from companies like Big Potato Games, which has been promoting its pocket- and full-sized games - including Herd Mentality and Sounds Fishy - on Instagram.

Certain niche games from Asmodee have also been popular, such as Cobra Paw and Unstable Unicorns, and we have expanded our Dobble offering with newer versions, inspired by McDonalds giving away Dobble cards with its Happy Meals, which should be encouraging customers to try it out.

As for jigsaw puzzles, they are strong for us all year round. During lockdown, we expanded our range and have tried to focus on great quality puzzles that are made in the UK, so they have a small carbon footprint. As well as traditional puzzles, we like to stock designs which are a little bit different, such as unusually shaped puzzle pieces.

We are looking forward to the launch of the Toymaster Christmas catalogue, which usually kickstarts the festive season. Christmas this year may be a bit tougher

for us as we have a Smyths opening on the edge of town this September. We will have to focus on our strengths and be a bit more niche, while also looking to make better use of our social media channels, creating Facebook videos and exploring Instagram. We’ll remind people of who we are and what we do and the benefits of shopping with a specialist which has amazing product knowledge and personal customer service.

The local community is important to us; we are on the lookout for a game or range that we can promote in conjunction with one of our local charities, by offering to donate £5-£10 from the sale of each game. We did this a couple of years ago when the Lakes Monopoly was launched, and we ended up donating about £1,200.

We are feeling positive about our Games and Puzzles range for Christmas. The category will always be an important one at the time of year when families get together and have time to do puzzles and play games together; it's a family tradition in most households to get a new game every Christmas. We will encourage people to continue to come to us for their purchases. Our local Business Improvement District board will be running events from now until Christmas to increase footfall in the town centre and we will capitalise on these events by running special offers and promotions.

Ian Davis - Rules of Play, Cardiff

This summer has been positive in terms of the number of customers visiting us. We always have a spike in summer, as well as at Christmas, because of our varied product range. Families, couples and groups of friends are always looking for a game to take with them on holiday, whether that’s in this country or abroad.

Although the overall footfall trend has returned to what it was pre-Covid, the items customers are purchasing have changed quite considerably. The average spend per transaction is a lot lower – those medium-weight product sales have fallen dramatically, and now the cheaper, £20 games are more popular. We had already started to notice this change last Christmas, so for this year we will be putting a lot more emphasis on our stocking filler range than we have previously. Fortunately, we are still seeing excellent footfall overall – many customers still want to come in because games are their hobby. But we are having to work a lot harder to achieve the same turnover.

New releases help bring customers in. Many of the more quirky board games have proved popular, as well as escape room type games. In the summer, traditional outdoor games add to sales; games such as Mölkky from Tactic make ideal garden games or are bought to take on camping trips.

We carry a wide range of games from big players such as Asmodee, but also offer titles which customers may not see everywhere. This is something we have become known for and is a real footfall driver. We are selling a lot more European games now compared to 10 years ago when we mainly shipped from North America.

We are however very excited to be bringing in Ravenburger’s Disney Lorcana Trading Card Game and Pokémon 151 cards, which we anticipate will be bestselling lines this Q3 and Q4.

June saw the return of our annual board game festival which we haven’t run since pre-Covid times - last year everyone was still a bit nervous about being with big groups of people again. It was really nice having it back – that’s where we get to meet the customers in a more relaxed and fun environment and in addition, we get to play as well. We’re very thankful to those who came back.

Mark Green - Yorkshire Jigsaw Store – Easingwold, North Yorkshire

We’re a family-run business based in North Yorkshire, and we stock more than 2,000 jigsaw puzzles from all the major brands and for all ages. Our shop was a newsagent for 50 years but in 2014, the Yorkshire Jigsaw Store was born. As well as our shop, which is a destination for jigsaw puzzle enthusiasts, we run a popular online store.

This year, sales throughout the summer have been pretty good considering everything else that is going on at the moment. We always see a spike in sales whenever a manufacturer releases new titles; we use our email marketing list to notify our customers about the new lines and this always prompts an influx of sales. We are looking to add even more new brands to our range to increase the variety that we stock and to try and offer customers products which they can’t find in every store or on every website. Although we do stock all the big names, we don’t only want to offer mainstream brands. By continually being on the lookout for new ranges, and sourcing from overseas as well as the UK, we try to offer our customers a greater range and something different. This year we added Cobble Hill which has proved very popular, and we have more companies lined up to add in the near future.

At the moment, we have lots of puzzles with a summer theme, but we don’t see an increase in sales during the summer months. It always surprises us that Christmas or winter-themed puzzles sell all year round. The latest releases from Gibsons autumn range, most of which had a festive theme, have sold well even though the sun has been shining.

One area of speciality for us, being based in Yorkshire, is a section dedicated to Yorkshire-themed puzzles. These always prove popular with holiday makers visiting the area, who like to take home a puzzle as a memento of their trip.

Looking at the best-selling products since the beginning of the year, the list contains all the puzzles that were produced for the Coronation of King Charles. The latest Wasgij puzzles feature on the list too; a range which is always very popular, and Jumbo brings out new titles frequently to keep aficionados interested. New puzzles from Gibsons deigned by artist Val Goldfinch have also sold very well.

With regards the cost of living, we are lucky that as a hobby, jigsaw puzzles are not too expensive, with an average retail price of £15-£16. This gives customers a good few days or weeks of enjoyment – and they don’t need expensive equipment to indulge in puzzles as a pastime. So, the state of economy hasn’t really affected sales much.

This year we are hoping for a much better Christmas than last. Of course, a large proportion of our annual turnover comes in the 12-week run up to Christmas. Last Christmas didn’t live up to our expectations owing mainly to the Royal Mail strikes. This badly affected buyer confidence in placing orders, not knowing if the delivery would be made in time. Looking ahead to the festive season, we will make sure that we keep our bricks and mortar store really well stocked to offer the best possible choice to our customers, as well as ensure we have plenty of stock in our warehouse for our online sales.