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Retailer Round Table
Talking Heads
Which ’b’s drive independent gift retailers crazy? Which product sectors are on the up? What made GDPR a storm in teacup? How has the weather affected sales, and how are gift shops approaching Christmas? These were among the myriad of questions put to a cross-section of independent gift retailers at PG&H’s annual retailer round table held at Home & Gift in Harrogate last month, resulting in some ‘no holds barred’ answers. But first, how has the year been so far?
In terms of footfall and sales, overall, 2018 seems to have typically been a mixed bag. While business has held steady for Soni Ahmed’s gift shop Maia Gifts in Glasgow, David Lorimer’s Brocante stores in Cornwall, and Sophie Edwards’ destination store Narborough Hall in Leicestershire, for Hilary Jones’ village gift shop Let’s Go Round Again in Wombourne, it’s been a challenging year so far. Hilary Jones. “We’re down one month and up the next,” she stated. At Alligator Pear in Tadworth, shop manager Sinead Merry concurred. “It’s been very up and down, but it was balanced out by a brilliant Mother’s Day and a fantastic June and July, with business consistently up.” At The Gift Gallery in The Shambles, York, Kate Everson highlighted an excellent July.
This year’s ‘round tablers’ were, in alphabetical order: l Soni Ahmed, co-owner of gift shop Maia Gifts in Glasgow l Sophie Edwards, co-owner of destination store
Narborough Hall, Narborough l Kate Everson, owner of The Gift Gallery gift shop in
The Shambles, York l Hilary Jones, owner, Let’s Go Round Again in Wombourne l David Lorimer, co-owner of three Brocante gift stores in
Fowey, Mevagissey and St Ives in Cornwall l Claire and Dee O’Donnell, co-owners of jewellery and fashion
accessories store The Herbary in Troon l Maggie Thornton, owner of destination store Alligator Pear in
Tadworth; shop manager Sinead Merry and assistant shop manager Angie Pipe (Chairing the round table was Sue Marks, editor of Progressive Gifts & Home and GiftsandHome.net). Above: Left to right, (left hand side): Sue Marks (front), Maggie Thornton, David Lorimer and Sinead Merry. Left to right (right hand side) back row: Angie Pipe, Kate Everson and Soni Ahmed. Middle from left to right: Dee and Claire O’Connell and Sophie Edwards. Front: Hilary Jones.
“Having had a quiet first few months of the year, everything changed in June, with people suddenly wanting to shop again.” For jewellery and fashion accessories shop owner Claire O’Donnell in Troon, while March (especially Mother’s Day) and April were great months, May was “a disaster”, leaving Claire wondering what happened compared to the previous May. “However, June was a fantastic month, so what we lost in May we managed to get back, helped by the fantastic weather.” And on the subject of the weather, the Beast from The East definitely took its toll. “It was just a dusting of snow,” quipped David Lorimer, co-owner of Brocante. “But joking aside, we were badly affected in Cornwall. It PROGRESSIVE GIFTS & HOME WORLDWIDE
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