Sue's Blog
It's getting colder...
Friday, 03 February 2012 10:18
We're keeping a close eye on the weather forecast at the moment - we intend to drive to Birmingham on Sunday for the biggest trade fair of the year, and don't want to be stranded in any snow! It will mean an early start as we want to see several of our current suppliers as well as some potential new ones - there are lots of interesting toys and gifts out there, and we want to choose the best...

It has been thoroughly cold all week here in Winchester - lots of babies and toddlers coming in the shop wrapped up in several layers of clothes so that it is difficult for them to move their arm to wave goodbye when they leave. The weather should really have been like this at Christmas time, but of course it wasn't - there was a report in our local paper yesterday saying how busy Winchester had been in the run-up to Christmas. I'm not surprised - Winchester has a magical feel at Christmas time, and as a large proportion of the shops are independently run, it is a really interesting place to visit.

We'll report back on our impressions from Sunday's trade fair next week (assuming we can get there) so watch this space....
 
The long way to London
Thursday, 19 January 2012 10:13
Trade Fair season started last weekend, although Tony and I almost decided not to go to London for the first one when we realised that there was engineering work on our route - still, at least it wasn't of the 'replacement bus' variety, so we just resigned ourselves to an extra hour on the train...

We had an interesting afternoon looking around, meeting with existing suppliers and searching for new ones. There are a couple of small companies producing British made goods that we are interested in - we just need to work out where we could fit any new lines into the shop!

A large delivery of swords, shields, bows and arrows came earlier this week - they have proved so popular that we have extended our range - there are now some shorter swords, sword belts and a quiver for arrows as well as the usual favourites.

By the way, our sale is nearly over - it ends on Saturday 21st, so don't delay if you want to pick up a bargain
 
Happy New Year
Thursday, 05 January 2012 15:49
Happy New Year - I can hardly believe it is 2012 already; 2011 went so quickly!

For us, and many businesses in Winchester, 2011 was a year of recovery after business in 2010 being hindered by the High Street repaving work. Now that it is finished the High Street does look very impressive - if only the council hadn't decided to block it with a market 5 days a week, it would be even better...

The toys that we offer in our shop gradually changes all the time, and 2011 saw quite a few new additions to our stock. The main new line for us was the Brio railway, which has proved extremely popular - Brio is a well-established quality brand and many customers have been pleased to see it available again. Our range of Brio is expanding all the time, and now includes many of their baby and toddler toys as well as the railway (by the way, if you want to see for yourself how sturdy and what great fun the Brio railway is, do come and have a go in the shop - we have a large set available for playing with...)

Another of our most popular brands is Melissa and Doug - their toys and puzzles are excellent value for money. We have expanded our range of Melissa and Doug substantially in 2011 and there will be yet more new products arriving in 2012.

The brand that we are probably most proud of finding is Vah Konstein - a small German company that make wooden swords, shields, crossbows, bows and arrows and brilliant knight's helmets. These have proved so popular that we sold out of most things before Christmas - we'll make sure we order plenty of stock for the coming year!

Our latest new brand, which arrived just before Christmas, is Games Workshop - a fun hobby for older children that involves playing strategy battle games using models that you assemble and paint yourself.

Our website also goes from strength to strength and we are now not far off our next target of 1,000,000 hits in a single month.

Winchester is always a lovely place to shop, but the pre-Christmas period in 2011 was the best ever - pretty Christmas lights, lots of musicians and entertainers in the High Street, the Cathedral Market and Ice Rink - a great place to come and soak up the atmosphere.

The city is quieter now that Christmas is over, but still a lovely place to visit. I am looking forward now to the trade fairs that will be taking place in the next few weeks - let's hope there are some really interesting new toys waiting to be found!
 
It's all about Logistics
Monday, 28 November 2011 10:44

Most of my year is spent worrying about having the right mix of toys, getting the price right and displaying and marketing the toys. But Christmas is different and your focus is totally on Logistics - moving the stock from Supplier to store room and to the shop - as our new girls Tabitha and Bethany found out on Friday.

Friday was one of those mega-days that you are glad to have - and be over. It was one of the busiest days in the shop this year and to top it off, we had 32 large boxes of toys delivered in two deliveries. It was a team job, working all day, with one team serving the customers while the other processed the received stock.

Winchester seems to have forgotten that there's a recession on. The town was heaving on Saturday. Sunday was not much less crowded, and we had our second best weekend ever - only bettered by one weekend in December 2009. I really hope that this was replicated across the country because the one thing we really need to get growth going again is for customers to get back their confidence and to spend, spend, spend!

For me though, no respite. Even though we had so much delivered on Friday, we ended the weekend with less stock than we started with, so it's now back to the suppliers to call off even more stock.
 
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