Retail Interview Dee’s Cards
Hannah Rudder and Paul Mordecai
‘Nothing is too much trouble’
Greetings Today caught up with Hannah Rudder and Paul Mordecai as they were waiting to hear if Dee’s Cards had won a coveted RETAS retail award Can you tell us a little about your background before you owned the shop? Paul opened Dee’s cards in Leighton Buzzard, Beds in August 1992. His first taste of retail started with his dad on Essex Road, Islington in the early 1970s where they had a familyrun newsagents. They were both quick to realise that cards sold really well, so a few years later they opened their first greeting card shop further down the road. He much preferred the card shop to the newsagents because of less punishing hours (no more 5am starts!). Hannah has been with Dee’s Cards for the past eight years but prior to that she had always been in retail.
Tell us a little about the shop and its location. Leighton Buzzard is a market town, and we are situated at the top end of the high street opposite the town’s Market Cross monument so we are in a very prominent
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position. The shop is 1,000sq ft and made up of 70% cards and 30% gifts and gift wrap. During lockdown our local council decided to pedestrianise the high street to help with social distancing. This means that buses and cars are not permitted on the main high street. Unfortunately this has negatively affected many small businesses’ footfall. However, during the past 12 months the town has lost an independent gift shop and an independent card shop so our footfall has actually increased.
How do you source your products? We source products from networking with other retailers to see what’s on trend. Also, we like going to trade shows and finding new brands that we wouldn’t normally come across. It’s good to socialise with people in the
same industry as, you can compare what’s going well and what’s not.
What is your selection criteria?
“We love interacting with our customers, having banter and just having a good time”
We try to source the best products available on the market in terms of price and quality. We find customers will buy at a cheaper price point but the second card they buy tends to be a more luxury or hand-finished card, so you need the right balance of products.
How is trading for you at the moment? Trading is really good. Our trading months this year are up compared with 2019. We haven’t taken into account 2020 because we were shut for most of it! During the last lockdown we changed the front of our store. We went back to our original trading name of Dee’s Cards and gave the front a new lick of paint. I think this has made a massive difference as
