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Retailer Face To Face
Below: Tabi Marsh in Papilio’s card department. Bottom left: Papilio’s at Heritage’s welcoming shopfront. Middle left: Pricing up cards was a favourite module for the retail students. Middle right: One of the Junior Retail graduates who selected Redback’s Shine range as her favourite product in the shop and did her marketing project based on the range.
If you happen to pop into card, gift and coffee shop, Papilio at Heritage in Thornbury over Easter don’t be surprised if you are served by a plucky eight year-old, or spot a nine year-old dressing the window or catch sight of a ten year-old proudly pricing up the cards in the stock room. This is all part of Junior Retail, an innovative ‘young apprentice’ scheme developed by retailer Tabi Marsh, who is now offering the programme out to other retailers to adopt too. And, as PG discovered, this is just one of the many initiatives being instigated by one amazingly progressive retailer. When Tabi Marsh and her father Gary bought what was then called Heritage in Thornbury back in 2014, it was a traditional gift shop with collectables displayed behind glass. “The average age of the customer was around 80,” recalls Tabi. “While we didn’t want to alienate these loyal customers, we knew we wanted to widen the shop’s appeal to other age groups too through the products we stocked as well as the shop and café environment.” Six years on, and (a devastating fire aside, caused by the next door business that forced the café to be closed for 15 months) Papilio at Heritage is a thriving retailing hub in this small Gloucester market town with customers of all ages.
“Our aim was always to create a truly welcoming shop where everyone feels able to come in and browse (and then hopefully buy!) and no-one is stressed by the risk of accidentally knocking something expensive over,” says Tabi. “We deliberately do not fill the shop with lots of display units as we want to ensure that anyone with a pushchair,
walking-aid or in a wheelchair can easily access all parts of the shop without needing to ask a staff member to move products or need to execute a three point turn,” she adds. The ethos which underpins the shop is the desire that everyone should feel welcome and safe to enter. “I cringe if I hear parents say to their children, “put your hands in your pockets” as they come through the door as I want parents to feel comfortable coming in 50
PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE
with their children. This increases customer satisfaction, footfall and ultimately sales,” adds Tabi. Making the most of its wide frontage on the high street, the front part of the shop is anchored by arresting displays of homewares, gifts, as well as children’s toys and books. Ideally positioned en route to a large airy café and garden area is the greeting card department. “Greeting cards are huge for us, our sales have increased 150% over the last two years. We initially had them at the front of the shop, but now we have enlarged this department in the heart of the shop as they draw customers in and invariably people have a look on the way to and from the café,” explains Tabi. While she deals with over 30 card publishers at any one time, Tabi rings the changes to sustain customer interest. “As Thornbury is not a tourist town we rely on our local trade. We have some customers who come in three times a day, for morning coffee, lunch and then maybe a drink at the end of the day. The last thing I want is for them to get bored with our card selection.”