Progressive Greetings Worldwide November 2015

www.ukgreetings.co.uk

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Leader

On The Cards At last the greeting card industry has a chance to be up where it belongs - to be recognised as one of the UK’s great success stories, a pre-eminent creative industry that is at the very heart of British culture.

Thanks to an introduction from Eloise Hall (the creative driver and owner of the eponymous card company who debuted at PG Live this year) to Culture Minister Ed Vaizey, the UK greeting card industry is going to Parliament!

A meeting has been scheduled for December 2, which will see GCA president Ged Mace (of The Art File), my colleague Sharon Little, ceo of the GCA, myself (wearing my PG and GCA hats!) and of course Eloise, go to Westminster to meet Ed Vaizey. It will be our job to make sure that at the end of that meeting, he is left in no doubt as to the value (culturally, socially, financially and psychologically) that our wonderful industry brings to Great Britain and indeed shares with the rest of the world too, through exports.

It will be such a privilege (and responsibility) to enter through the historic portal of the Houses of Parliament and not just tell our story to the Minister but explore ways that we, as a trade, can elevate our profile and reinforce our importance.

As well as taking with us a host of greeting cards (from as many GCA members as we can to represent the diversity - see News), we will also be taking along one of my own

www.max-publishing.co.uk THE HOME OF MARKET LEADING TRADE MAGAZINES

Above: The 1920’s themed Progressive Greetings team at The Henries awards with the Master of Ceremonies.

Below: PG’s Jakki Brown (left) met with Dean and Janet Hoyle last month (see pages 66-67).

prized possessions, the very first commercially produced Christmas card which Sir Henry Cole introduced in 1843 when, as a busy civil servant, he found himself too busy to write letters to everyone. It will be one way of ensuring that Ed Vaizey sends lots of Christmas cards at the very least.

As the legacy of Sir Henry Cole kicks-off big time this month with the public buying their Christmas cards, within the industry I hope you will join in kick-starting this great British tradition by participating in the Festive Friday (Friday November 27) initiative. This great idea, instigated by the GCA, is for everybody to take some time on November 27 to write and send some of their Christmas cards. When you think about how many people are employed in this industry alone (a point we will be making to Ed Vaizey for sure), that festive feeling could be soaring from the beginning of December. This would make Sir Henry very proud. And, on the back of The Henries awards last month, named in his honour, he really would be a Merry Old Soul!

THE HOME OF MARKET LEADING TRADE AWARDS

From baby to toddler to starting school

EXHIBITIONS

Max Publishing Ltd, United House, North Road, London N7 9DP Tel: 020 7700 6740 Fax: 020 7607 6411 www.progressivegreetings.co.uk PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

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Contents

What’s Inside

Within This Issue: THE HENRIES 2015 AWARDS WINNERS

73

35

66 11-21

35-57

News

The Henries 2015 Winners

The winners of this year’s Henries awards.

22-23

58-59

Over The Counter

The Buzz Of Biz

Jeremy’s Journal

Independent card and gift retailer, David Robertson, co-owner of JP Pozzi in Scotland, highlights how the traditions of good retailing don't alter.

Try, Try Again

24-25

61-65

Blue Eyed-Sun’s Jeremy Corner gains a few business wisdoms from the Rugby World Cup.

You Can’t Keep A Good Man Down

Viewpoints

Crystal Baubles

What’s Hot?

Co-founder of Card Factory, Dean Hoyle, talks to PG about his new role as chairman of The Works.

83-94

Classified 95

Furry Paw-traits

Appointments

Publishers explain why animal images are a fur-tile source for cards.

The Henries 2015

The Henries And All That Jazz

Art Source

Changing Habits

Animal Cards Focus

30-33

77

Lynn’s Lines

69-71

How some of this year’s Retas winners and finalists are gearing up for Christmas.

PG meets up with Heather Flynn, creator and co-creator of the Alice Scott and Happy Jackson brands.

In Conversation With... Dean Hoyle

The Full Works

27-29

The Highland Flynn

81-82

66-67

Cardsharp muses over topical events happening in the industry.

Designer Focus

78-79

Innovations

Cardsharp

73-74

The party pictures of this year’s ‘Roaring Twenties’ themed Henries awards.

Right: A festive penguin design by Birds In Hats.

Progressive Greetings is a monthly business magazine.

SUBSCRIPTIONS: UK subscription: One year £50 Two year £85 Three year £110 Overseas subscription: One year £75 Jakki Brown

Warren Lomax

Gale Astley

jw@max-publishing.co.uk

warren@max-publishing.co.uk

galea@max-publishing.co.uk

Editor

Advertisement Director

Deputy Editor

SUBSCRIPTIONS ENQUIRES: maxsubscriptions@marketingreinforcements.co.uk Tel: 020 8943 9541

PG is the official magazine for the Greeting Card Association GCA: Sharon Little 020 7619 0396 Email: gca@max-publishing.co.uk www.greetingcardassociation.org.uk Use your smartphone app to scan the QR code to visit our website.

Copyright© 2015. While every effort has been made to ensure the information in this magazine was correct at the time of publication, the publishers cannot accept legal liability for any errors or omissions, nor can they accept responsibility for the standing of advertisers nor any organisation mentioned in the text. Views of contributors do not necessarily reflect those of the publishers.

PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

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Hallmark hits the road again for 2016 Thanks to your wonderfully warm response to the new Hallmark roadshows, we’re hitting the road again in 2016, only this year we are going bigger, seeing us visit 19 venues across the UK and Ireland.

Not only will we be unveiling our brand new collections across, Christmas, Everyday, gift packaging and gifts but you’ll also have the chance to make a real day out of your trip. Venues from the breath-taking Titanic Museum, or the iconic Old Trafford Stadium, to Hallmark House where the card magic is made, we want you to feel inspired and excited by your visit to our roadshows.

Since its successful launch in January, our Handpicked collection has doubled in size and impact. This exclusive to specialist card shops collection, has not just grown with ever developing new designs from the dedicated Handpicked Creative team, but it’s also refined and improved along the way. We make sure that Handpicked is a collection that’s fit to bursting with cards that perform consistently for you across all the caption areas.

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We’re showcasing the best products available in the world of Licensing from Star Wars, Warner Brothers, Disney and Mattel to name but a few, as well as Hallmark’s exclusive properties of Forever Friends and introducing the adorable Gus. We’ll be bringing along Hallmarks very own itty bittys, the collectable sensation sweeping the gift market on a global scale. Plus a host of new and exciting innovative cards for kids that bring a whole new level of excitement to card sending for your customers.

And let’s not forget Christmas! We will have Christmas 2016 all wrapped up for you, bringing a truly unique collection to help you make your mark on the high street at Christmas and all year round.

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We can’t wait to see you there...

To book your place please contact: UK 0800 90 20 900 ROI 012 480 104 Or book online hallmarkroadshow2016.co.uk

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Exposure greeting cards designed by icon order online: www.icon-art.com telephone: 01242 679800 / email: info@icon-art.com

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NEWS TOP STORY

A Roaring Henries Scribbler Founders Receive Honorary Achievement Award It being the 20th anniversary of The Henries, the recent greeting card awards extravaganza took on a sparkling 1920s theme, reflective of the exuberance of the age.

“It was wonderful to shine the spotlight on the astounding creativity within our industry on the publishing side,” commented Warren Lomax, joint managing director of Max Publishing (of which PG is a part), which owns and organises The Henries.

The Henries Ball, attended by 700 card publishers, retailers and suppliers, took place at the Lancaster London Hotel on October 8 and was hosted by comedian Mark Watson.

Reflecting the industry’s diversity, the prestigious Henries trophies went to card ranges published by all manner of publishers, from long-established companies, respected niche players, right through to newbie start-ups.

It was a big night for UK Greetings who, in addition to winning The Henry Cole Classic Award (for ranges that have stood the test of time), for its Giggles range, the publisher also won the coveted Gold award in the Best Service to the Independent Retailer.

It was a double celebration too for Belly Button Designs, who won two awards, while Wrendale Designs won the Best Art Range category for the fifth year in succession for its Country Set range.

Bringing The Love(sy) Back

Providing an emotionally uplifting finale to the awards ceremony, John and Jennie Procter, co-founders of Scribbler, were presented with the Honorary Achievement Award.

A staggering 14,000 greeting cards were entered into The Henries this year, judged by a panel of over 40 prestigious retailers, including buyers from John Lewis, Scribbler, Paperchase, Waitrose, Tesco, Waterstones and a host of leading independents. * For photos from The Henries as well as the winners see pages 30-57 or look (and download) from The Henries website www.thehenriesawards.co.uk. ● Next year The Henries Awards Ball will take place on Thursday 6 October 2016, at the Lancaster London Hotel.

Above: Some high kicks from The Bees Knees who performed at The Henries.

Above left: A winning bunch! (Left-right) Jarle Tatt (Noel Tatt) with the Bronze service trophy, Simon Wagstaff (IC&G) with the Silver service trophy, Tony Roberts (UKG) with the Gold service trophy and Ben Whittington (UKG) with The Henry Cole Classic trophy which Giggles won.

Below: A double celebration! Belly Button Designs’ founder Rachel Hare (left) and finance director Kimberley Williams (right) and Debbie Wigglesworth (of The Paper Collaborative).

Greeting Cards With Woman Power Coinciding with the recent release of the film Suffragette - whose starry lineup includes Carey Mulligan, Ann-Marie Duff, Helena Bonham Carter and Meryl Streep – Henries finalist Clavis & Claustra has created a new range of greeting cards to add to its existing Suffragette gifts range.

"I wanted to create a range which depicts inspiring and successful women," owner Cat Crossley told PG, whose Quotelets range reached The Henries finals in the Traditional Words & Sentiments Range category.

"There is an increasing appetite for products and media which celebrate real women and their achievements, and what better place to start than the suffragettes whose bravery and determination won a right which many of us now take for granted? The captions re-contextualise the images in the 21st century with a smirk and a wink."

As Cat points out: "With the centenary of women first getting to vote Above: Among the card designs in Clavis & Claustra's new Suffragette range. imminent, this range anticipates a renaissance in suffragette fever."

By popular demand, Adriana Lovesy, a finalist in The Henries, is changing her card publisher’s trading name back to Designed by Mrs Lovesy.

Between the finalists of The Henries being announced - in which the publisher’s Spring Collection was feted in the Best Handmade and Hand-finished Range category - and the awards event, Adriana had changed the name to Apple Tree Gifts.

"I’m flattered that so many people liked my original name," commented Adriana, "I had originally planned to do just wedding stationery, so using my married name of Mrs Lovesy seemed appropriate, especially with the word 'Love' in the name. But when I made the decision to focus on just greeting cards I thought I needed a name change, hence Apple Tree Gifts. However the feedback I’ve received recently has made me reconsider the choice and change it back while I’m still at such an early stage!"

Above: Adriana Lovesy and her husband Ralph (centre and right) with Adam Short, sales manager of The Imaging Centre and his wife Sarah.

Start-Up Success For Publisher Bexy Boo Not only did newbie publisher Bexy Boo win a Henries award last month, but the company also beat off stiff competition to win Best Start Up Business in the Cheshire Business Awards 2015.

The publisher’s Scrabbley Neons range won the Best Handmade or Hand-Finished Range in The Henries.

The judges for Cheshire Business Awards commented that Bexy Boo "had exceptionally quick growth in a tough market.”

“I am still beaming from ear to ear with happiness," said the company's elated founder Bex Hassett.

Above: Bex Hassett (centre) and the Boo Crew show off their winners certificates at the Cheshire Business Awards.

PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

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NEWS TOP STORY

IG's Great Expectations

Greeting Cards Go To Parliament Culture Minister Ed Vaizey To Meet GCA The UK’s culture minister Ed Vaizey has agreed to a meeting with the GCA to learn more about the importance of the greeting card industry as a world leading creative industry and the fact that such mass participation in card sending is a uniquely British cultural phenomenon.

Through an introduction by Eloise Hall, founder of the eponymous card publishing company, GCA ceo Sharon Little made contact with Ed Vaizey at his Westminster office to investigate whether he would be willing to attend an informal meeting.

As Sharon pointed out in her correspondence with his office: “With 1.16 billion cards sold each year in the UK, more people send cards than go to the theatre, ballet, cinema, football matches, or participate in any other type of cultural activity, with an average of 31 cards sent per person every year.”

She also highlighted that while digital technologies have had a devastating effect on book, CD and DVD sales, sales of physical greeting cards have held their ground, pointing out that cards are still sold in more types of retail outlet than any other product - with one in six of all retailers selling cards.

“With such public participation in our industry, we would like to see greeting cards given equal status with other creative industries. So we would like to explore ways of working with

government to fly the greeting card flag,” she wrote.

In a matter of days a meeting date was agreed December 2 - and, failing no pressing matter in the House, Sharon, together with new GCA president Ged Mace (of The Art File), GCA joint general secretary and PG’s editor Jakki Brown and Eloise Hall will meet with Ed Vaizey in the Houses of Parliament.

Determined to leave the Minister in no doubt as to the wealth of creative diversity in the UK greeting card trade, the greeting card posse will present Ed Vaizey with hundreds of different greeting cards.

Each of the GCA’s 450 publisher members are being entreated to send in one card from their portfolio (or specially created if they so wish) to the GCA’s offices, to arrive

by Monday November 30.

“They can be a card for any occasion, captioned or blank, large or small,” clarifies Sharon.

The cards should be sent to: Card For Ed Vaizey, GCA, United House, North Road, London, N7 9DP. Above: Ed Vaizey who is to hear all about the culture of greeting cards.

Inset: Greeting cards are heading for the Houses of Parliament.

Talking Heads Following on from a hugely successful GCA AGM in September, individual videos of keynote speakers Dominique Schurman, Hannah Dale and Sanderson Jones' presentations are available on the GCA YouTube channel www.youtube.com/GCAClips.

The full AGM 2015 Report is in the downloads section of the GCA members’ area, with accompanying transcriptions of speakers’ seminars.

Also available to view is the chief executive of the GCA Sharon Little's talk at London's Sunday Assembly.

Left: Sharon Little, chief executive of the GCA, at London's Sunday Assembly.

That Figures!

The much anticipated GCA Market Report was launched at the association's AGM in September (as reported in last month’s PG). "With more members supplying EPOS figures into our online survey, this is our most accurate report yet and shows a value increase to £1.4 billion on single card sales, £1.6 billion if you add in our estimate for the Christmas boxed market," confirms GCA chief executive Sharon Little.

The report is available in the members' area of the GCA website by logging in and clicking on Downloads and Resources.

Above: The by sector split of the UK card market.

International Greetings' trading update, for the six month period to 30 September 2015, shows trading is in line with expectations. The company, which supplies value chain Poundland with exclusive cards, is now also bolstering its Above: Paul Fineman, position in this market by group ceo of IG. supplying B&M value chain too.

Christmas Cards From Yesteryear The British public are going to learn all about the UK’s Christmas card heritage, thanks to a BBC2 programme entitled Back in Time for Christmas that is expected to be screened in the festive run up.

Above: A Christmas card Researchers for Wall to Wall from circa 1940s from the Media, that is producing the UKG/AG archives. progamme (that is a follow on from its factual series Back in Time for Dinner) contacted the GCA to ask for information on Christmas card history as well as contacts. The programme will follow the same family as they travel through the highlights of Christmas past – from Christmas under fire in the 1940’s to the ‘spendathon’ of the 1990’s.

UKG is among the publishers to be helping the research team, with the publisher’s archivists, both at UK Greetings and its US based parent company American Greetings, supplying lots of content for the show.

A Dynamic Duo A collaboration between social enterprise ARTHOUSE Meath and global cosmetics brand Lush, was launched at the beginning of October in 930 Lush stores worldwide. Two festive designs Winter Wonderland and Snow Time featured on the packaging for Lush's Christmas gift boxes, and were created by ARTHOUSE Meath artists, all of whom live with severe epilepsy, learning and physical difficulties.

"As an organisation aiming to make positive change, we are so pleased to be working with Lush which has fantastic visual concepts and excellent ethics," says Becky Sheraidah, ARTHOUSE Meath's ceo and founder, adding, "I hope this is the first of many more collaborations with Lush."

Above and left: Winter Wonderland and Snow Time were created by ARTHOUSE Meath for Lush.

PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

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NEWS TOP STORY

Dean Goes Back To Works Card Factory Founder Behind A Different Counter Dean Hoyle, founder of Card Factory, has bought a 30% stake in The Works retail chain and is now its executive chairman.

Dean admits he has surprised himself how much he is enjoying his new role at The Works. “I am absolutely hooked!” he told PG. Although Dean still has a place on the Card Factory operating board as nonexecutive chairman, he has not been involved in the day to day running of the value card group for over five years.

Dean is now determined to draw on his retailing nous to expand The Works, which currently trades from 300 stores, selling books, craft items, gift stationery and

some greeting cards. He feels there is a potential to expand to 1,000 outlets.

Commenting, Dean told PG: “The fact that the products it stocks are mainly paper-based was part of the attraction for me, but it is a different proposition to Card Factory.”

Part of the plan to expand is to establish a product design studio in The Works’ Sutton Coldfield head office and Dean is currently searching for a design director to head up this new in-house team.

Refuting that he could be looking to create a ‘Card Factory mark two’, Dean said: “I am still on the board of Card Factory and have to draw a professional line between the two businesses – and I can’t take on the beast I created can?”

Tony Barraclough, who joined Dean in the very early days of Card Factory (and was planning to retire from the card chain) has also joined The Works as nonexecutive property director.

(See pages 66-67) Left: The Works trades well in high streets, out of town parks, outlet centres as well as garden centres.

In Your Face-book!

Cardgains recently held a highly successful social media seminar at its Sheffield HQ, where a group of 14 publishers were given an expert guide to making the most of Twitter and Facebook. Social media guru Jason Squires explained the myriad of ways tweeting and Facebook postings can assist publishers, communicate marketing messages and generate sales. Among those who attended were delegates from Paper Rose, The Great British Card Company, UKG, Noel Tatt, Ling, History & Heraldry and PG’s Warren Lomax.

Gold Star Service To Independents UK Greetings was proud to take home the prestigious Henries Gold Award for Best Service to the Independent Retailer for the fifth year running at The Henries Awards last month.

Independent sales director Tony Roberts, who joined UKG in 1998, praises the dedicated teams that make this possible, explaining that the longevity of service from employees has a great deal to do with it, with 19 of his sales team having more than 20 years’ service each.

Since the Henries’ early years, UK Greetings has been a consistent winner in this category, and while the company name may have changed, dedication to the independent retailer has remained a constant, he reinforced.

The company also won The Henry Cole Classic Award for Giggles. "Giggles is the pride of our evergreen ranges and we are committed to the challenge of keeping it fresh and funny” says Phil Renshaw, art director of humour,“so achieving Henry Cole Classic status after 28 years in an ever changing market landscape is testament to all of the talents that have contributed to its evolution and the retailers that have supported this very Best of British brand.”

Right: A UK Greetings gathering with some of The Henries trophies the company has won over the years.

Cardmarket To Expand Before Christmas WHSmith’s revealed its plans to expand its chain of value Cardmarket shops next year, but makes no mention of its upmarket Funky Pigeon/Paper & Script retail concepts.

Announcing its preliminary results for the year ending 31 August 2015, which showed an 8% lift in pre-tax profit to £121 million for the year, revenues in the High Street division dropped 4% on a total basis and 3% on likefor-likes.

Making reference to its 20 Cardmarket stores, which opened in the first quarter of the financial year, the company’s announcement stated that while ‘sales are still building, performance continues to vary by store’. "We plan to open an additional 10 trial stores before Christmas to test the concept further and will be in a better position in the spring of next year to determine if there is rollout potential," commented Stephen Clarke, group chief executive.

Commenting on its main High Street business, he said that its “profit focused strategy continues to deliver sustainable growth”. In what he sees as “core categories” of stationery (which includes greeting cards) and books, it had a stronger second half, helped by the colouring in ‘therapy’ products for adults. He confirmed that the company's Travel business has continued to perform well with strong sales across all channels in the UK, but made no reference to the Funky Pigeon retail brand.

“Looking ahead, our focus will remain on profitable growth, cash generation, investing in new opportunities and evolving our customer proposition, all to ensure we are well positioned for the future,” Stephen stated.

Including the Cardmarket stores, the high street business now operates from 615 stores (2014: 604). Some 10 stores were closed during the year.

Top: WHSmith will be opening a further 10 Cardmarket stores before Christmas.

Moonpig Sold For £400m After much speculation, Moonpig, owned by PhotoBox, has been sold to two private equity groups - Exponent and Electra - for around £400m, with the PhotoBox executive team expected to continue in their roles. PhotoBox's Stan Laurent, who leads the team, said that Exponent and Electra shared the company's vision to develop the most 'personal' ecommerce business in Europe.

PhotoBox bought Above: Moonpig is under Moonpig in 2011 for £120m. new ownership.

PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

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NEWS TOP STORY

Difficult Decisions For UKG Anticipated Loss of 100+ Jobs UK Greetings’ recent loss of the Tesco business at very short notice was always bound to have repercussions on its workforce. And at the end of October, the company announced that it is to restructure with inevitable job losses.

Although the loss of the Tesco account (to Hallmark) was a major catalyst for the whole review, James Conn, group sales and marketing director of UKG, told PG that the new “Go forward strategy is designed to support the longterm future of the business for our employees and our retail partners."

The restructure is likely to result in the unfortunate loss of over 100 jobs across the entire business. A process of consultation with employees is now underway and will be completed by mid December.

“As a family business, albeit one that employs 2,200 people, we care deeply about our employees. This restructure is not something we have taken lightly and regret the loss of any jobs, but we

Below: James Conn was among the senior management at UKG who have had to tell the staff about the restructure.

need to provide for the long-term future of our business. We have been working on the structure for a number of months to ensure that UKG is positioned to serve our customers, as well as enable us to benefit from the group’s global resources and protect its long-term future,” add James.

UKG has been on an impressive growth curve for the last 10 years. Apart from its relatively recent decision to shift the bulk of its manufacturing to the Far East and to its US parent company, UKG’s workforce has grown exponentially during the recession.

“The new structure will safeguard the vital elements of our service to retail partners - from our investment into consumer insights, product leadership and supply chain excellence,” assured James.

50th Anniversary Celebrations Family-run business Boyatt News celebrated 50 years in business on Saturday October 10. The newsagent, run by Jon and Ann Dudley, is a From the Heart store and has always kept greeting cards at the heart of its business.

Celebrations to mark the anniversary included a get-together of ex paperboys and girls, children’s 1965-themed competitions, and confectionery sold at 1960’s prices, “although we won't be accepting any three penny bits or sixpences!” joked Jon before the event.

UK Greetings helped out with celebrations by creating various POS for the store.

Boyatt News was started in Chandler’s Ford in 1977 by Jon's parents, Peter and Jean Dudley, selling sweets, stationery, cards and newspapers. In 1977, they took on a new unit in Eastleigh, where the shop is based, and saw a large boost in greeting card sales in 1987 through the incorporation of a post office.

Jean continued to take care of some of the admin duties right up to the time she passed away in 2013 aged 91. “She would have been so proud of the business making it to 50 years,” said Jon. With the help of UKG, the flagship store had a refit in 2002, with an entire department dedicated to greeting cards.

“We have many positive comments every week from customers about our cards," confirms Jon.

Little Hats Go Big At Oliver Bonas Oliver Bonas has partnered with Innocent and The Point 1888 to create life size hats in support of the Big Knit for Age UK, in order to help keep older people warm this winter.

Now in its 12th year, Above: Hats off/on to Oliver Tress, founder and the Big Knit sees knitters md of Oliver Bonas (left) across the UK knit who is shown with Nick miniature woolly hats to Canney, md of Innocent. adorn Smoothie bottles which will be sold in store nationwide from February next year.

For each be-hatted Smoothie sold, Innocent will donate 25p to Age UK. Oliver Bonas meanwhile, has teamed up with The Point 1888 to create six life size, limited edition hats available exclusively from the company.

"We love Big Knit and are thrilled that we are working with our friends at Innocent to help raise money for Age UK," says Oliver Tress, founder and md of Oliver Bonas. "It is an exciting collaboration. Two great companies working together for an important cause."

Jarrold Bags It For Charity Following the new legislation which came in force from October 5, stating that large retailers must charge a minimum of 5p for single-use plastic carrier bags, Norwich department store Jarrolds took the decision to donate all the proceeds until the end of 2015 to the Big C, a respected local Norfolk cancer charity. Its greeting card buyer Suzie Abel told PG that the company felt it wanted to give to a local charity which would resonate with its customers.

Jarrolds has a long history of supporting local charities and in recent years, Jarrold Retail alone has donated more than £110,000 to local causes including £25,000 to the Big C. Below: Big C ceo Chris Bushby with Carole Slaughter, left, and Lucy Hurrell both of Jarrold.

Bottom: Jarrolds’ card buyer Suzie Abel with Paul Woodmansterne who visited the store recently. “Our cards sales continue to thrive, with a 6% like-for-like growth on everyday and an early 2% growth on Christmas,” confirms Suzie.

Above: The Boyatt newspaper boys.

Left: A reunion celebration.

PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

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17—19 January 2016 Olympia, London

STATIONERY & GREETINGS Experience the new, beautifully curated world of Stationery & Greetings at Top Drawer.

Discover a carefully edited, global cross-section of products from the finest brands and designers.

Be part of the evolution at London’s international event for creative retailers: Top Drawer.

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NEWS TOP STORY

NEWS IN BRIEF

Twitter Helps Spread The Word Wendy Jones-Blackett Confronts Black Friday Wendy Jones-Blackett, founder and md of her eponymous company, has got the bit between her teeth to get Christmas cards trending on Twitter on the same day as Black Friday.

Wendy is leading a charge for fellow publishers to take part in a Festive Friday one day ‘giveaway' on November 27, offering a few Christmas cards and stamps as prizes to the public.

"If all the publishers involved launch at the same time, say 8am, the wave of publicity could be immense!" Wendy enthused. "All it takes is a photo of the ‘prize’ - anything from six Christmas cards and a booklet of stamps, just a few cards for a smaller publisher, or a huge box of cards form the bigger companies - and a caption saying: ‘It’s #FestiveFriday!

RT&follow by 9pm today for a chance to #win in our #giveaway. Get sending your Christmas cards!”

Wendy suggested that publishers then tweet their winner after 9pm and, if the winner has ‘followed’ them, a private message could be sent to congratulate them, getting address details to send the prize.

"If the recipient then posts a photo of their prize a few days later, that can also be retweeted," she highlighted. "We could fill social media with Christmas cards!"

Hallmark is among those who are backing the idea. "A good tip for everyone participating is to have #FreebieFriday in the posts as this gets a lot of traction," highlighted Tamsyn Johnston-Hughes, its PR, social media, licensing and consumer marketing manager.

Tamsyn confirmed that the company will also be running an initiative on Facebook called a Tug of War, where the company asks people to choose their favourite ‘look’ by voting on the Hallmark app. "We then choose a couple of winners at random to send some cards to," explained Tamsyn. "We can do this throughout the day with a couple of designs, and it will make sure we boost our Facebook posts."

Left: Some Wendy Jones-Blackett cards.

Festive Friday Kicks Off Following hot on the heels of the hugely successful Thinking of You Week promotion, the GCA is now full-steam ahead on Festive Friday which takes place on Friday November 27.

The initiative, which launched in 2013, has already become a high spot on the calendar for the greeting card industry, encouraging people who love greeting cards to send their personal Christmas cards out early in order to arrive in the first week of December.

Publishers have been fast off the mark to enter into the festive spirit. "We are working on a host of Festive Friday activities, including designing a belly band to go around a selection of three cards, with stamps, to go to each Gold Crown store to get them to kick-off the sending season on Festive Friday," confirms Hallmark's PR, social media, licensing and consumer marketing manager Tamsyn Johnston-Hughes. "We are also designing material for celebrations with our Tesco and Morrisons colleagues, plus, Easons is giving a card to every employee from a choice of Hallmark Cards, which it will be posting for free as well," Tamsyn confirms.

Highest Christmas Spend Predicted Since The Recession Christmas is shaping up to be a good one if analysts' predictions are on the money. According to a new poll conducted by ICM, consumers will spend over £400 each on Christmas shopping this year.

According to ICM, this would represent the highest spend since 2007.

The ICM poll for Retail Week found that shoppers across the UK would spend £423 on presents, with 35-54 year olds expected to spend £484.

Meanwhile, a survey carried out by Yodel predicts that those in the North East are likely to be the most prepared for Christmas shopping (42%), followed by the Welsh (41%), with Londoners falling behind the pack with just 18% already having bought presents.

● Diwali (November 11) - known as the Festival of Lights - has become a growing card sending occasion in the UK. Among the retailers really getting behind it this year has been Moonpig, whose website currently offers customers an array of designs. ● Aspin has launched of a new website www.aspin.co.uk - a one stop shop for trade order processing queries and solutions. The company's new digital asset management tool SKOO DAM will shortly be available. ● UK Envelope Centre has increased its offering with a new W&D envelope converting machine which has boosted capacity by over 1million envelopes a week.

Above: UK Envelope Centre has increased its capacity.

● Pam and Roger Willis of Willow in Fareham were the winners of Widdop Bingham’s Star Wars selfie competition held at Autumn Fair, receiving £250 of Star Wars gifts. In addition, Perfectly Peachie in Essex won the company's lottery draw and saw its account credited by £100. Visit: www.widdop.co.uk/lottery. ● It takes one to know one. Print company, Graphite Creative was able to draw on the publisher insight of Jane Tonkin (formerly of Shine Publishing, now with her Above: The Graphite Creative marketing promotion. own design consultancy business) to create a marketing campaign to fanfare the company's screen-print services, which features neon and metallic screen-print. ● Pioneer Europe is flying high following the launch of MyBalloon.com in partnership with Dave Saunders from Bizzy Balloons which sees consumers designing their own personalised photo balloon with 24-hour click and collect service.

Bobbin And Stitch Asda’s exclusive cute characters Bobbin and Stitch have proven to be very popular in their own greeting card range, so much so these two cute characters aren’t resting on their laurels anytime soon, in fact, they can’t sit still - literally!

ASDA and UK Greetings have teamed up to create a Bobbin and Stitch augmented reality Christmas gift card. The gift card features a festive Bobbin and Stitch scene, which magically comes to life to music when scanned using the Bobbin and Stitch App. UKG developed the characters exclusively for Asda, and the greeting cards have been very successful. The added value of augmented reality to Bobbin and Stitch adds that little extra Christmas magic for Asda customers.

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PEOPLE Below: Many of today’s teenagers have never written a birthday card.

#Just Write Day Yikes! 25% Of Teenagers Have Never Written A Card A quarter of teenagers aged 13-19 (26%) have never written a birthday or Christmas card; 49% have never written a thank you letter, and 83% have never written a love letter.

Teenagers type but don't write enough, reveals an alarming handwriting study carried out by stationery company BIC. It highlights that three quarters of teenagers also have no idea how much a postage stamp costs.

As PG went to press on October 29, BIC was about to launch #JustWrite Day, with a series of events across the UK aiming to encourage people of all ages to pick up a pen and start writing.

“Handwriting is one of the most creative outlets we have and should be given the same importance as other art forms such as sketching, painting or photography," states Jonathan Skyrme, general manager at BIC UK & ROI. "We need to be doing more to encourage youngsters to put pen to paper, which is exactly why we’ve launched our #JustWrite campaign in partnership with Melanie Harwood at Start-Bee.” Commenting on the report, Melanie highlights that BIC’s study has shown that 19% of teenagers don’t pick up a pen more often than once every couple of months outside of school or college. "It's an alarming statistic when you consider that handwriting, not typing, is a skill that is fundamental to unlocking a person’s potential in life," she states. "Alongside

reading and maths, writing is one of the three key skills everyone needs to master if they are to cope in the adult world, which is exactly why BIC’s #JustWrite campaign is so important.”

Those polled admitted that text messages and instant messaging had a negative impact, with 67% concurring that they were detrimental to their writing, with 21% admitting it makes their spelling worse.

Two thirds of respondents also revealed that receiving a handwritten card or letter would mean much more to them than an electronic equivalent, while 65% confessed that any relative receiving a handwritten card or note from them would probably be delighted as they'd consider it more thoughtful, highlighting that those polled still understand how meaningful handwritten communications are.

The research was conducted among 1,000 13-19 year olds across the UK by Mortar London on behalf of BIC UK & ROI during the summer.

An Honour For The Ladder Club Anti Copying In Design (ACID) founder and ceo Dids Macdonald, OBE, will lead the line-up of speakers at the next Ladder Club meeting at the second day seminar on November 18, at the Cliffs Pavilion in Westcliff on Sea. Dids, who recently received her OBE from HRH The Princess Royal at Buckingham Palace for her fight against design infringement, will be addressing around 50 greeting card publishers on the second day seminar about what they can do to safeguard against copycats, as well as what to do if they discover they have been copied.

Commenting on her OBE, Dids said: "I am immensely proud of my being recognised and awarded with an OBE. This highlights the importance of the incredible contribution of great UK designers and the intellectual property which underpins design brands, whether micro or macro. I shall continue to raise awareness about ACID's ongoing design and IP campaign, Commission it, Don't Copy It." Other speakers at The Ladder Club seminars (as well as its ‘godmother’ Lynn Tait) include: Henri Davis (retail consultant), Miles Robinson (House of Cards), Ian Bradley (agent), Karen Wilson and Claire Williams (both of Paper Salad), Jeremy Corner (Blue Eyed Sun), Ben Hickman and Mark Williams (both of Brainbox Candy), plus representatives from The Sherwood Press, Enveco, GF Smith, The Imaging Centre, the GCA and PG. ● Very limited places are available. Contact Clare Davies of Createvents on clare@createvents.co.uk to book your place - Cost £48.

● Sarah Ward, who was until recently a director at Penny Kennedy, part of the Swan Mill Group, for the past 11 years, has become chief executive of the Giftware Association (GA). She takes over from Isabel Martinson who stepped down during the summer.

Sarah, who brings her business experience from the supplier and retailer sides, says the move to The Giftware Association follows her decision to “embrace a complete life change.”

Also taking on a key role at the GA will be Jeremy Corner, md of Blue Eyed Sun and Ivy Ellen, (greeting card and wedding stationery companies respectively), who will succeed the GA's current vice chairman, Henri Davis, who becomes chairman of the GA in 2016.

Above: Sarah Ward, the new chief executive of The Giftware Association.

● After being a sales agent for 16 years, Pauline Arnold (right) has just retired to Devon to spend lots of freetime with her Yorkie Ziggy. "I have had such an amazing customer base, meeting up with lovely customers who have, over the years, become good friends. I'll miss them," says Pauline.

Pauline's patch was the Northern Home Counties, where she represented Blue Eyed Sun, White Cotton, Juniper Tree, Design Design, Paper Salad, The Little White Card Co, Peel Cards, Sardine and Ask jewellery.

With the exception of Paper Salad and Design Design, Libby Holden will be taking over Pauline's agencies. ● i2i Events Group, organisers of Spring Fair and Autumn Fair, has made two senior appointments. Nick Davison (right), who joined the company in 2007, is the new portfolio director for Spring Fair, and Saul Leese, (right) who has joined from 100% Designs, is the show's head of marketing.

Award In Print Woodmansterne was recently crowned the winner of the prestigious Social Stationery Printer of The Year 2015 category at the PrintWeek Awards held at the Grosvenor House in Park Lane.

Other finalists in the category were Loxleys, The Sherwood Group and Windles Group.

Below: The gang from Woodmansterne celebrate their success at the PrintWeek Awards.

Left: Dids Macdonald, OBE will be a keynote speaker on the second day at The Ladder Club in November.

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Over The Counter

The Buzz

Of Biz

Below: JP Pozzi in Buckie, now co-owned by David, continues its roots in traditional retailing.

Bottom: It's a fine line between offering customers too much product choice and not enough.

Independent card and gift retailer, David Robertson, co-owner of JP Pozzi in Scotland, affirms that while everything changes, the traditions of good retailing - product choice and service - remain the same.

Slang, abbreviations, phrases and sayings surround us in our day to day life. They are used and repeated in connection with work, play and our personal lives every minute of every day. They are immersed in the press, on television and of course on social media where so many of us spend so much of our time these days. And currently, there seems to be more than ever. We seem to be the victims or recipients of more tags and labels than ever before.

We now are a nation of ‘mumpreneurs’, ‘goal diggers’, and ‘smarketers’. In many cases most of these new words are really just rehashes of old concepts and phrases often linked with new technology. For example, ‘remarketing’ is when you target someone after they leave your website. This can be done in a number of ways, from an email to a pop-up advert on the next website they visit.

All very clever stuff, but it is just the same as a good old mail shot following an initial interest. The main difference is of course it is instant and in some ways subliminal.

Interestingly though, despite all this modern technologically-based marketing vernacular, consumers are still responding to traditional means of selling. The Giftware Association recently reported that half of UK consumers interviewed in a survey preferred to shop in store. It also highlighted that 34% gave up searching online after only 10 minutes, and in a poke in the eye to remarketers, it showed that consumers were getting frustrated with irrelevant pop-up adverts online. Despite all this, 80% said online shopping was more convenient, with 56% saying that 22

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price was a factor as to why they used the internet.

Now you can read as much or as little into research figures as you like, but what is interesting to me is the rise in choice for the consumer. Our chosen product category of greeting cards is, without doubt, one of the most competitive. Now one in six stores in the UK sell cards and it seems that everyone wants some of the market share.

Choice, as you would expect, is a good thing. Humans by nature want choices as this allows them to make decisions and in turn feeds the desire to have a degree of power.

Part of the internet’s appeal is that you can find and source things that you simply would not find on your local high street. I get that, and do it myself. However, as retailers, the problem is we have to give customers a reason to come to our store or the wider town/city centre to keep it vibrant and relevant. That is why retailing has to be all about the overall experience.

In one of the town centres that we operate we are actively looking to attract more restaurant businesses to combat the

large malls who now offer every food choice.

We are installing digital signage which brings with it free Wi-Fi throughout the city centre.

We are in fact offering free Wi-Fi in some of our shops too, and we aim to have it all covered next year. We have also seen a number of local businesses refurbish in a bid to raise their game further. In business it’s a matter of evolve or die.

‘Choice’ was the theme when I spoke to 100 businesses recently. I spoke about how the consumer will shop with you if they feel comfortable, valued and ultimately can find what they are looking for. They will choose your shop because of the variety of brands available or the service provided or because they want to be seen in your store. It could be one or all of the above and a lot more. What matters is that they choose you.

Choice is without doubt a good thing but you can in fact give too many options. For example, with over 48 Sympathy cards in our display people still ask if we have more in the drawer! Too much choice can also confuse people and delay purchasing, but not enough and they say there is nothing there. It’s a dangerous but very important tightrope to walk.

One true indicator of the public’s desire for more choice is the large amount of pop-up or niche stores that are arriving in

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Over The Counter

town centres and shopping malls up and down the country especially at this time of year. In our city centre there have been six pop-up shops open this month alone. Having spent time in London last week, I also saw a number of in-store pop-ups, as well as standalone stores within bigger stores, and perhaps this is a way for the high street to truly re-invent.

But even though there is now more choice for consumers, there are many things that remain the same in retail. Take pop-up shops for instance, something that is thought of as relatively new, but is it?

Some 25 years ago my mum and dad tried pop-up retailing. At that time they were operating from the original small shop, but when the sports shop across the road moved they rented the building on a short-term lease.

A local joiner later, with some cuttingedge gift product from Canadian company Innovation and beautiful South African greeting cards from Butterick, among others, resulted in the store being a resounding success. This allowed us to push forward to buy the hotel next door.

At that time ‘pop-up retailing’ was yet to be coined as a phrase but that is exactly what it was.

Today pop-up stores are still set up briefly on the high street, but I have mixed feelings about them. In some cases it will allow small businesses the opportunity to test a place out. In other cases it will allow a number of businesses a high street presence and opportunity to judge consumer reaction.

It may also give young entrepreneurs a taste of what selling to the public is really like.

In some cases though, it is landlords looking for a quick gulp of money and the stores themselves are purely set up to take huge sums of money at a key trading time.

In some respects it is very unfair on retailers who are committed to buying/leasing and fitting their building to the highest of standards all year round. And when these pop-up shops disappear in three months time what happens to their customers’

Left: A Bathing Ape, the Japanese street wear giant, launched a pop-up shop in Selfridges in 2014.

Below left: Finerylondon.com created an interactive storefront to build brand awareness ahead of its launch with a pop-up shop in Soho.

Below right: Events happening at David's stores helps spread good word of mouth between potential customers.

rights? What happens to the stores all around them?

Pop-ups shouldn’t just be for Christmas, they should be for... well... a bit longer than that.

When you start looking into pop-up shops it is a fascinating subject. Websites such as PopUpBritain and Storefront give a real depth of insight, revealing again it seems, that market research and looking at the physical area and who lives there is key. It is also essential not to spend too much on the store’s fit out, marketing or branding. Pop-ups like to be the renegade of the business world, trying all kinds of different methods to get noticed. This is part of the appeal and fun.

The three key points when setting up a pop-up, according to experts, are high footfall, turnkey space and complementary businesses.

Experts also say that being edgy and finding alternative spaces can really work. For example, a men’s clothing brand being sited within a barbers or a jewellery brand launching in a bar. However, ultimately it comes down to what you are selling and how you get your message across.

However, the pop-up shops I see are not all like that. They tend to be extensions of a previous brand or simply just a quick way of making money. The businesses behind them are not launching anything or first dipping a toe in the water.

Personally, to me it doesn’t matter if a shop is permanent or not. You still need to be proud of it.

This month we will host three shopping day and night events, following on from the

launch of our first one (a jewellery launch) in September. We have two nights where we have a Michael Buble tribute singer, mocktails, champagne, a fashion show and beauty experiences will be on offer.

We will also host a Charlie Bear coffee morning with customers choosing their surprise bear!

These types of events I see happening regularly in London and other big city centres.

We, as small retailers, need to also try and put our own slant on things. Last week while in London, post Henries Awards, I experienced stores with Live DJs, American Football lessons, personalised products done as you wait and food tastings!

Customers’ expectations are changing, and to drive them from their house to travel or park and then to shop is a challenge that increases day by day. Retailers have to get creative and innovative if we want to make the most out of the sales opportunities, these types of things create conversations between people; a traditional marketing form we call ‘word of mouth’.

The words I have chosen to reflect retailing in this article are not the trendy or buzz ones. ‘Choice’, ‘expectation’ and ‘service’ go back to the beginning of time in terms of retail. They are not some type of hybrid where two different words come together to make an elaborate phrase that means very little. Yes, we operate in an industry full of mumpreneurs, with some of our most successful female designers such as Wendy Jones-Blackett, Rachel Hare (founder of Belly Button) and Bexy Boo and many others combining roles.

Card retailing is a naturally a focused driven, sales targets business, so retailers are ‘goal diggers’ without having to name them as such.

The point to me is obvious. To be successful you have to care about what you sell and how you sell it. It really is as simple as that, buzzwords or not.

To contact David email: jppozzi@btconnect.com PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

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CARDSHARP

You Can’t Keep A Good Man Down He’s back in the saddle. The inspirational entrepreneur who founded, developed and grew the nationwide Card Factory value retail greeting card chain to phenomenal profitability and turnover, contrary to even his own expectations, Dean Hoyle is back as a shareholder in high street retailing once again after purchasing a significant shareholding in mixed goods value chain The Works.

Cardsharp takes this opportunity to look at the subsequent careers of some of the ‘greats’ of the last generation of greeting cardpreneurs after they made their fortunes, and the differing career paths they have chosen to follow after their phenomenal successes!

It is a well told story of how Dean Hoyle and his management team sold Card Factory to a private equity group for a sum believed to be approaching £200 million.

Dean and his wife Janet then divested themselves of all their shares a couple of years later when Card Factory went public to the City with a £half billion valuation.

Although still on the Card Factory operating board in a non-exec capacity, at the time Dean had no intention of reentering the trade at whatever level. But now he’s back.

The news of Dean’s shareholding in The Works retail chain (which sells greeting cards

24

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as part of its offering) set Cardsharp thinking about how it seems to be that once you have worked in the UK greeting card industry, it exerts an almighty pull on you.

You might decide, if you are one of the fortunate and talented elite who have made £millions from greeting cards, to cash your chips in and move on to pastures new or enjoy your untold wealth. Or you might take some time out, like Dean, to count your cash and then decide to give it another go. Or you

might be in the third category, where your love of the greeting card industry means that you just keep on going!

Dean Hoyle’s return to retailing after recently acquiring a significant share in The Works chain, sees him back in the arena of stationery and greeting cards (as, contrary to most perceptions, The Works does not just sell discounted books any longer). But Cardsharp ponders why Dean, having built from nothing and then subsequently sold his Card Factory chain for £millions, would want to go back into this competitive retailing world again.

Wealthy beyond the dreams of avarice and owning Huddersfield Town soccer club, the team he has supported since he was a boy, why would he take all this on again?

Cardsharp remembers talking to Andrew Brownsword. He of the eponymous company that in the 1980s and 1990s made the ‘Forever Friends’ phenomenon so successful.

Andrew sold his empire to Hallmark back in the mid 1990s for a figure reputedly close to £200 million. Like Dean, he acquired a sporting institution, Bath Rugby Club, but (and Cardsharp suspects might be the case with Dean and Huddersfield), he

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CARDSHARP “Dean Hoyle’s return to retailing after recently acquiring a significant share in The Works chain, sees him back in the arena of stationery and greeting cards (as, contrary to most perceptions, The Works does not just sell discounted books any longer).”

found it very frustrating. When you are used to achieving and making things happen, as all successful entrepreneurs are, it must be very difficult to process that your fortunes depend very much on things you cannot control. You can’t get out there on the pitch and make it happen. You are reliant on a group of highly paid, but unpredictable, young men for your success, and it does not matter how many highly paid coaches you employ, and then subsequently dismiss, there is no guaranteed glory or even commercial success to follow.

Some eight years into his ownership of Huddersfield Town FC, Cardsharp wonders if Dean was suffering from the same frustrations as Andrew did.

Like Dean, Cardsharp knows that Andrew Brownsword still takes a keen interest in the greeting card world even after all these years on, but unlike Dean, he has never been tempted to make a return, probably because the huge margins in greeting card publishing that made him so profitable in the 1980s and 1990s have long since been eroded – unless of course he adopts a Card Factory model! Having divested himself of Bath Rugby Club, Andrew has become the king of high-end luxury hotels instead, as well as other property interests.

Cardsharp notes however, there are some successful ‘cardpreneurs’ who have been quite happy to cash in their chips and never look back. Ron Wood, the founder of the original value greeting card retail chain, Birthdays is one such

individual. Nearly 20 years ago, Ron sold out for £85 million. And little has been seen or heard of him since in greeting card circles. It is believed that he has extensive business and property interests in his home town of Bury in Lancashire, but little more is known.

And then mused Cardsharp, there are the greeting card moguls whose affection for the industry means they continue to be involved even though they could have cashed in years ago. One such man is Stephen Haines, founder and owner of Carte Blanche, whose company created the grey bear Tatty Teddy. Stephen is in fact a former employee of Andrew Brownsword, but unlike Andrew he has continued his passion for sailing with his passion for the greeting card trade. Tatty Teddy celebrates its 20th anniversary next year but Stephen is still the major shareholder in Carte Blanche and chairman of the company. Being based in the Channel Islands, Steve is not in the office every day, but still is actively involved in all major decisions. There have been rumours of potential purchasers of Carte Blanche hovering around over the years but nothing substantive has ever materialised.

Above: Andrew Brownsword made the Forever Friends brand a household name.

Below: Ex-footballer Bryan Robson (left) had a 10% share-holding in retail chain Birthdays, set up by Ron Wood (right).

But taking this love for the industry to the ultimate extreme is Simon Elvin, owner of the eponymous Simon Elvin Group.

Cardsharp notes that while the wholesale sector, which his company has dominated for over three decades, has shrunk (ironically the success of Dean Hoyle’s Card Factory being a major contributing factor), Simon has shrewdly acquired and then nurtured a whole portfolio of direct to retail greeting card publishers, such as Nigel Quiney, Glick, Paper Rose and Polytint. And although well into his eighth decade, Simon continues to be involved in all aspects of the business. With no passion for sailing or owning soccer or rugby clubs, he is the ultimate ‘Cardie’, having openly admitted he has few hobbies other than the industry and his group of companies.

Then finally, notes Cardsharp, there is the wealthy and shrewd investor who, having made £millions in the greeting card industry settles down into the role of business angel, connected but yet not involved on a day to day basis in the greeting card trade. Cardsharp is of course referring to Duncan Spence, who just sold one of his investments, Ling Design, for what was reported to be a substantial but undisclosed sum. Yet Duncan still retains a stake in Carte Blanche and Photobox (which bought Moonpig), a business largely funded by him in its early days.

Cardsharp reflects that Duncan has the best of both worlds - freedom to do his own thing, but at the same time stay in touch with his old greeting card world, keeping an eye on his investments.

So what does this all say about the greeting card industry? mused Cardsharp.

Firstly, it set him thinking that whether on the retailing or the publishing side, it has always been an industry where a talented, hard working and indeed fortunate individual (we all need a bit of luck!) could be hugely successful. It also made him reflect that most successful greeting cardpreneurs (Ron Wood apart!) are still keen to remain involved to a greater or lesser extent.

As Sylvester Stallone often grunted in his role as Rocky Balboa, the heavyweight boxer in the Rocky movies, “You can’t keep a good man down!”

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VIEWPOINTS

Crystal Baubles The Christmas preparations have sparkled into action in card and gift independents around the land for the biggest retailing season in the calendar.

PG finds out how this year’s Retas awards winners and finalists are ‘decking their shop’s halls’ going into this magical period and, looking into their crystal Christmas bauble, what is their festive forecast?

The 2015 Retas Winner of the Best Independent Greeting Card Retailer - Home Counties

Michelle Ellingham partner of Box Of Delights, Flitwick: Preparing for Christmas: “We prepare for Christmas from January so the festive season is never far from our thoughts whether its Christmas windows and shop displays or where are we going to put all the new stock!

All of our Christmas cards, giftwrap, Advents, diaries and accessories are delivered in September. The beginning of October is always chaos as we rearrange the card and wrapping displays, then onto the gifts and decorations.”

Extra festive cheer: “We always have two special shopping events offering discounts and promotions with prosecco and mince pies in November,

Above: A design from the adorable Feltipips range from Paper Rose.

Left: A Woodmansterne Quentin Blake design.

Below left: Sally Swannell’s beautiful Advent calendars are a Christmas favourite in Box of Delights.

and stay open late. We promote these on social media and invite our regular customers.”

Early sales of Christmas products: “Yes it has been an encouraging start! We are selling boxed Christmas cards and relations single Christmas cards from Five Dollar Shake and Belly Button Designs, also Woodmansterne’s and Ling’s cards sell immediately when we get them on display. Advent calendars are strong from Tizaro, Sally Swannell and Woodmansterne.”

Christmas sales prediction: “Customers seem to be happy and excited to see Christmas products on display this year and are purchasing rather than browsing, which is encouraging, so I am quietly optimistic that the public ARE in a spending mood! (fingers crossed).”

Santa’s wish list: “We have a new baby in our family this Christmas so it will be very special to spend the festive season with her and all our family.”

A 2015 Retas Finalists of the Best Greeting Card Retailer - North and Northern Ireland

Aimi Devine owner of The Card Gallery, Ackworth: Preparing for Christmas: “You might say that I am almost there! All my Christmas card stock is out and has been since the beginning of October. This is a mammoth task for us at The Card Gallery as much of our everyday ranges are put into stock boxes, clearing almost two thirds of the shop to make room.

I won't be dressing the shop for Christmas until the second week in November as I don't want to completely over awe the customers!”

Extra festive cheer: “I am in the process of planning our 'Christmas extravaganza', which will be in midNovember. This is an evening event to hopefully entice people who are usually at work during opening hours. We advertise by handing out invites, put it on Facebook, and this year it will go on our new website. On the night we offer discounts and hand out fizz, mulled wine and nibbles.”

Early sales of Christmas products: “I have noticed that once again Jonny Javelin’s Velvet range is selling Above: Sweet treats will be available at The through well. Gift lines that are doing well are the new Katie Loxton range of pouch/clutch bags, wooden toys from Card Gallery’s evening Christmas extravaganza for its customers.

Orange Tree and the new tiny tins from Apples to Pears.”

Christmas sales prediction: “I'm hoping that people will choose to come to us for what I consider to be a unique buying experience as we offer a 'one stop shop' for cards, gifts and wrap with the added bonus of friendly service and advice.”

Santa’s wish list: “I'm crossing my fingers that it will be a prosperous Christmas for The Card Gallery. I hope that what we are offering is enough to entice people out of the door away from their computers and online shopping but, if I can't have this, then I'd like a winning ticket for the lottery please Santa!”

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VIEWPOINTS A 2015 Retas Finalists of the Best Greeting Card Retailer Newcomer Or New Branch - North

Lucy Sticka and Heidi Richardson owners of Little Paperie, Ashbourne: Preparing for Christmas: “We are opening a Winter Wonderland upstairs at Little Paperie on 31 October. Filled with lovely decorations, beautiful Christmas cards and everything you could possibly need to do some fabulous giftwrappings! We are also offering a giftwrap service in store too.”

Extra festive cheer: “Ashbourne has a late night shopping event on Friday 11 December. They close all the main roads and fill them with lovely stalls serving roasted chestnuts and lots of other yummy food, fair ground rides and much more!”

Early sales of Christmas products: “We have lots of packs of Christmas cards out. We have most of The Art File’s collection, they were really popular last year especially the luxury boxes.”

Christmas sales prediction: “People seem to be starting to think about Christmas spending now and we have sold quite a few boxed cards already. Hopefully we are heading for a fantastic festive season!”

Santa’s wish list: “Ooh, well Heidi and I are easily pleased and would just like to spend lots of time making memories with our amazing families and friends (and as much gorgeousness as Santa can fit in his sleigh for us!!).

Above: Little Paperie’s Christmas elves, Lucy Sticka and Heidi Richardson, are getting in the festive mood.

Right: Santa has come to Little Paperie in Ashbourne already!

The 2015 Retas Winner of the Best Independent Greeting Card Retailer - Wales and the Midlands

Neil and Allison Allum partners of Something Special, Prestatyn and Mold: Preparing for Christmas: “We are preparing for Christmas this week (the third week in October). The last of the Christmas cards are going out in the racks the POS material is going up and the stores are beginning to take on the reddish glow of the season with the themed displays and red envelopes.”

Extra festive cheer: “We have promotions planned on multi card purchases, Yankee Candles and great offers from Thorntons. A big promotion weekend for us will be for the Black Friday weekend which was a great success last year.”

Early sales of Christmas products: “Good sellers so far are proving to be Christmas single cards from Cherry Orchard and UKG. The Berry Trifle scent from Yankee Candle is a winner and Thorntons’ Fairground Chocolate boxes are flying out.”

Christmas sales prediction: “Sales are hard to make at the moment with many customers holding back on spending. Everyone is looking for a deal and those suppliers supporting us with promotions and deals or even extended credit will win through. We are expecting this Christmas to be a very last minute season.”

Santa’s wish list: “Two weeks off somewhere warm and picturesque.”

The 2015 Retas Winner of the Best Independent Greeting Card Retailer - London

Leona Janson-Smith partner for Postmark, Balham, Dulwich and Turnham Green: Preparing for Christmas: “The sheer volume of stock coming through the door means we need to be really organised.

We try and stagger it as much as possible, with orders arriving from August onwards.

This means it’s all unpacked, logged into our system, priced and ready to go out the first week of November.”

Extra festive cheer: “Sometime towards the end of this year Postmark is set to hit an incredible milestone when we serve our one millionth customer. We can’t quite believe it ourselves, and are planning a promotion to mark the occasion.”

Early sales of Christmas products: “We’re slightly more traditional at Postmark so we don’t put out our Christmas stock until the beginning of November. This may lose us a few sales, but we feel our customers appreciate it, and as our online business grows we’re now able to direct anyone who wants to buy earlier to our online Christmas shop, which opens in early October.”

Christmas sales prediction: “The atmosphere is building and our online sales have been very healthy so far so all the signposts are there for a good Christmas this year.”

Santa’s wish list: “An empty stock room!”

Above: Postmark’s Mark and Leona Janson-Smith accepting their Retas trophy last July from Alister Marchant, CEO of Carte Blanche Greetings, sponsor of the category.

The 2015 Retas Winner of the Best Greeting Card Small Multiple and Greeting Card Retailer of the Year

Sarah Henderson partner of 3 Wishes, West Moors, Verwood, Ringwood and Lymington: Preparing for Christmas: “We spend from about the middle of August to the end of October preparing for Christmas, sorting, pricing and moving displays. We have a large range of boxed Christmas cards, charity cards stands, Christmas gifts and decorations as well as the single cards to find space for, so most of the rest of the other stock gets condensed and moved around to give Christmas centre stage.”

Early sales of Christmas products: “Selling well so far are designs from Tracks’ Marie Curie charity cards stand, The Great British Card Company’s Darkroom boxed cards, Cherry Orchard’s Winter Trail range and Woodmansterne’s Advent calendars.”

Christmas sales prediction: “We have had a really good year so far and the early Christmas sales have been great so we have no reason to think this won’t continue through the rest of the season.”

Santa’s wish list: “My children are all planning to ask Santa for a pony so I will probably ask him to make sure we don’t wake up to four ponies on Christmas morning!”

Left: 3 Wishes’ Sarah Henderson’s four children have all asked Santa for ponies. A Christmas card from Kiss Me Kwik.

Above: A lovely display of Yankee Candles’ Christmas scents at Something Special.

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The Henries 2015

The Henries

And All That Jazz!

The 1920s was a decade known for its creativity, style and entrepreneurialism, which made it entirely fitting as a backdrop for this year’s Henries Awards - and moreover, it was the 20th anniversary of these important greeting card accolades.

PG shares a flavour of what was a rip roaring Twenties of an event!

Top: All the winners of The Henries 2015 crowded onto the stage at The Lancaster London Hotel clutching their trophies, joined by (on front stairs) host comedian Mark Watson (second left) and PG’s (right-left) Gale Astley, Warren Lomax and Jakki Brown.

Above right: The super shiny Henries trophies!

Above: Adding some 1920s sparkle to the event, The Bees Knees dance troupe performed at The Henries as well as mingled at the champagne reception.

Far right: The fresh and funny observations of Mark Watson, who hosted The Henries, went down well with the audience.

Right: Getting in Charleston mood early! Paperchase’s (far left, second left and second right) Hazel Walker, Timothy Melgund, Frances Burkle, with Think of Me’s Dan and Freya Kane and (far right) PG’s Jakki Brown.

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The Henries 2015

Below: As part of the retailer’s 25th anniversary celebrations, House of Cards commissioned a special scratchcard, with four lucky winners who joined House of Cards’ founders (centre) Miles Robinson and Nigel Williamson on stage to select their prizes.

Below right: Paperlink’s Lucy Atunumuo was delighted that the House of Cards’ prize inside her gold envelope was an adorable giant Peter Rabbit that she accepted from HoC’s Miles Robinson.

Above left: The Windles team all looked suitably spiffing at the company’s private Drinks Reception at The Henries, at which the fizz flowed freely - no prohibition there!

Above: Two Jay Gatsbys, aka The Brainbox Candy Boys, Mark Williams and Ben Hickman with Windles’ EmmaLouise Allen.

Left: Dressed to thrill! (Left-right) Alison Butterworth (Nigel Quiney and Glick) with Paper Salad’s Jess Hadfield, Karen Wilson, Claire Williams and Lydia Jones.

Below: The ever shy and retiring Steve and (left) Wendy Jones-Blackett (of Wendy Jones-Blackett) with colleague Jacqui Godlove.

Far left: High fives from (right-left) Anne Allen (Ling), Kim Lewis (Longacres), Louise Parker (Daniels of Windsor) and Tracy McMinn (UKG).

Left: The stage set and Henries finalists brochure featured the distinctive artwork of Tracey Coxon (represented by Image Source and published on the Esprit range from Noel Tatt). The stylish menus were designed and produced by Windles while the placecards were provided by Fedrigoni.

Below left: The Bees Knees dance troupe who welcomed guests weren’t the only ones who looked the ‘bees knees’ – IC&G’s Ian and Ursula Wagstaff in 1920s mode.

Below: Ian O’Brien and a magnificent seven colleagues.

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The Henries 2015

Above and above left: Everyone’s knowledge of the 1920s was put to the test in a ‘higher or lower’ elimination quiz, sponsored by Paper Rose/The Art Group. Once the contenders were whittled down, the competition continued on stage.

Left: There was only one winner! Paper Rose’s sales and marketing director Nigel Willcock presented Bob Short, founder of The Imaging Centre, with the prize of a £200 travel voucher as well as a top hotel stayover.

Right: Birds of a feather! Hallmark’s Zoe Procter and Saul Bosworth.

Below: Fellow Ladder Clubbies (left-right) Tache Crafts’ Pennie Bryant and Frank Nicholls with Ilona Drew from I Drew This.

Below: CBG’s Nicky Harrison with the group’s new commercial director Gerard O’Mahony.

Above: BGC’s Paul Lavery with some of his lovely team.

Above: A retailer trio. (Right) Clinton Lewin (of ICandy Cards & Gifts) with M&P Cards’ Terry Harvey and Jane Chandler.

Right: (Left-right) Cardzone’s Chris Taylor and Jo Hancock with Widdop Bingham’s Andrew and Stuart Illingworth.

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The Henries 2015

Left: Wise men three? (Left-right) Martin Powderley (Pigment), Geoff Sanderson (Moonpig) and Daniel Prince (Danilo).

Right: Hats off to the Buddy Fernandez bunch! (Leftright) Sarah Champion, Lee Rowlett, Laura Gibson and Wes Venn.

Below: The ever glamorous Mandy Spears (Jonny Javelin) catches up with Ged Clearly (IC&G).

Below: If you want to get ahead, get a head band! Cath Tate (of Cath Tate Cards) gives a cheeky wave.

Below left: Kindred spirits, (left) Hannah Dale (Wrendale Designs) and Laura Sheratt (Laura Sherratt Designs) meet on the dancefloor.

Below: You can rely on Richard Bacon (Loxleys) and Paula Malloy (Quitting Hollywood) not being far from the dancefloor.

Right and below right: Ezen Designs’ David Wertheim and Miriam Oppel really looked the part and they could dance the look too!

Left: The dancefloor soon filled up as The Lionels took to the stage after the awards ceremony was over.

Below: There were some really great prizes in the raffle at The Henries, which raised almost £7,000 for The Light Fund charity. The responsibility of pulling the winning tickets was shared between (left-right) the GCA’s Sharon Little, The Art File’s Ged Mace (the new GCA president) and NSS’s Kelly Bristol.

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Most Promising Young designer Or Artist

Open to: This award was open to all greeting card designers and artists (employed or freelance) under the age of 35 on August 1 2014.

Far left: Cathryn Jones, designer for Hotchpotch Publishing, is delighted to accept this esteemed trophy for the Most Promising Young Designer Or Artist sponsored by Paperchase. Frances Burkle, head of buying for the company, presented the award.

Comedian Mark Watson (left) compared The Henries event.

Winner

Cathryn Jones Designer for Hotchpotch Below: Cathryn is thrilled with her award.

Initial Reaction: "It took me a few seconds to realise it was my name called out! And then “AAAHH!” Cathryn Jones, designer for Hotchpotch Publishing.

CATEGORY SPONSOR

Best Children’s Range Open to: All children’s greeting card ranges that have been launched or updated (with a minimum of eight designs) since August 2014.

Winner

Dungarees from Paper Salad

Right: Claire Williams (left) and Karen Wilson, co-directors for Paper Salad, firmly grip their Henries trophy for the Best Children’s Range category presented to them by Craig Zelly, business development manager of Loxleys, the category sponsor.

Left: Proud Paper Salad duo, Claire (left) and Karen.

Initial Reaction: "Flippin’ heck! (said in our oh so northern accents) It’s about blinking time! We couldn’t have asked for a better birthday present! 10 years in the business topped off by our first Henries award!"

Karen Wilson and Claire Williams, directors for Paper Salad.

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Best Christmas Counter Range Open to: All Christmas counter greeting card ranges that have been launched or updated (with a minimum of eight designs) since August 2014.

Below: Laura Miller, office manager for Five Dollar Shake, collects the company’s award from Bruce Podmore, managing director for Windles who sponsored the Best Christmas Counter Range category.

Left: All smiles, Laura clasps the festive trophy.

Winner

Ombre Christmas from Five Dollar Shake

Initial Reaction: “As I walked up to the stage all I was thinking is 'don’t do a Jennifer Lawrence, don’t do a Jennifer Lawrence'! It was an absolute honour and privilege to be collecting the award on behalf of my sparkling colleagues at Five Dollar Shake and the last thing I wanted to do was trip over! It was an amazing experience that will stay with me for a long long time.”

Laura Miller, office manager for Five Dollar Shake.

CATEGORY SPONSOR

Best Christmas Box or Pack

Open to: Any Christmas box or pack that has been launched since August 2014. This award could be for a specific item rather than for a range.

Below left: Karen Mace, director of The Art File, proudly accepts the company’s Henries trophy for the Best Christmas Box Or Pack category from Gould Paper’s managing director, Nick Henry who presented the accolade on behalf of the award sponsor, Gould Paper.

Below centre: Karen clutches her shiny award.

Winner

Form Christmas Box from The Art File

Initial Reaction: “Wow, what a thrill for all of our team!”

Karen Mace, director for The Art File.

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Best Traditional Words & Sentiments Range Left: Hearts Designs’ owner Dionne Bennett and designer Elliott Bennett, are over the moon to accept their Henries trophy for the Best Traditional Words & Sentiments category from Trisoft’s marketing manager, Alyson Longley (right), who presented the accolade as award sponsor.

Open to: All traditional words and sentiments greeting card ranges that have been launched or updated (with a minimum of eight designs) since August 2014.

Winner

Mad Dots Wedding from Hearts Designs

Initial Reaction: "We were absolutely delighted to win.

When our name was announced as the winner it was a moment we shall never forget. It was a wonderful evening!"

Elliott Bennett, designer for Hearts Designs.

CATEGORY SPONSOR

Best Contemporary Words & Sentiments Range Winner

Alice Scott from Pigment

Below right: Heather Flynn, designer of Alice Scott, and Pigment’s creative director Martin Powderley are delighted to receive the award for the Best Contemporary Words and Sentiments Range category, presented by Julie Brightley, sales manager for Envelopes Plus & Enveco, the category sponsor.

Below: Martin and Heather and their winning smiles.

Open to: All contemporary words and sentiments greeting card ranges that have been launched or updated (with a minimum of eight designs) since August 2014.

Initial Reaction: “We had another great night at The Henries. Getting nominations is great, getting an actual award made it feel perfect.”

Martin Powderley, creative director for Pigment.

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Best Contemporary Trend Range Open to: All contemporary greeting card ranges that have been launched or updated (with a minimum of eight designs) since August 2014.

Winner

Colour Me Happy from Stephanie Dyment

Below: Stephanie Leatherland, creative director for Stephanie Dyment, and her husband Ashley, are thrilled to receive the award for the Best Contemporary Trend Range category from Kelly Bristol, sales director of National Stationery Show, New York, sponsor of this category.

Below left: ‘Trendy’ couple Stephanie and Ashley.

Initial Reaction: “We were shocked, stunned and delighted to hear our name announced as the winner, and in such a tough category with some fab ranges too. Wow!! Thrilled to receive the award especially being the new kids on the block this year! Think we celebrated a bit too hard but what a fantastic night. Thanks to everyone who voted for us, it really is appreciated!"

Stephanie Leatherland, creative director of Stephanie Dyment.

CATEGORY SPONSOR

Open to: All handmade or hand-finished greeting card ranges that have been launched or updated (with a minimum of eight designs) since August 2014.

Best Handmade Or Hand-Finished Range Left: Proudly holding her trophy, Bex Hassett, founder and designer of Bexy Boo, receives the award for Best Handmade or Hand-Finished Range, which is sponsored by Regent Envelopes. The company’s associate director Mike Pauley presented the award.

Below: Charleston girl Bex and a lovely new trophy.

Winner

Scrabbley Neons from Bexy Boo

Initial Reaction: “'I can't believe it' seems to be on repeat for me!! And even looking back on what my hubbie recorded on the night, that is also what I said on stage. It was just brilliant and I can't stop smiling right now!!”

Bex Hassett, owner of Bexy Boo.

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Best Photographic Range Open to: All photographic greeting card ranges that have been launched or updated (with a minimum of eight designs) since August 2014.

Winner Left: Ling Design’s creative director Rebecca McCulloch, accepts the trophy for Best Photographic Range from Nick Davidson, portfolio director of Autumn Fair, which together with Spring Fair are the category sponsors.

Below: A surprised but pleased Rebecca clasps her Henries trophy.

Beautiful from Ling Design

Initial Reaction: "It was an amazing feeling - we were all really thrilled to hear our name announced. It's true that it's a blur as you make your way to the stage, but once there you get really caught up in the moment so it feels like only seconds have passed before you are making your way back to your table… where the celebrations have already begun!”

Rebecca McCulloch, creative director for Ling Design

CATEGORY SPONSOR

Best Humorous Range Winner

Open to: All humour greeting card ranges that have been launched or updated (with a minimum of eight designs) since August 2014.

Wulffmorgenthaler from Redback Cards

Initial Reaction: "Completely thrilled, very surprised and really proud to win our first Henries award.

A huge thanks to everyone who voted for us."

Chris Stanley, owner of Redback Cards Above: A delighted Chris Stanley, owner of Redback Cards, receives the award for the Best Humorous Range category from Jim Whittington, digital business partner for Antalis, sponsor of this category.

Left: A beaming Chris and a shiny award.

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Winner of best licensed GREETING CARD RANGE

CARDS CALENDARS DIARIES GIFT WRAP GIFT BAGS /DaniloCalendarsUK

@CalendarsUK

Danilo Promotions Ltd | Waltham Abbey | EN9 1AS | 01992 702 900 | sales@danilo.com | www.danilo.com Independent retailers contact Is It Art on 01926 747935 44_PG_November 2015.indd 1 51584_PG_MinionHenries_Ad_Nov2015.indd 1

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Best Art Range Open to: All art greeting card ranges that have been launched or updated (with a minimum of eight designs) since August 2014.

Initial Reaction: “We just couldn't believe it when our name was called out - we were so thrilled! What an amazing night."

Hannah Dale and Jack Dale directors of Wrendale Designs.

Winner The Country Set from Wrendale Designs

Far right: Wrendale Designs’ artist and founder Hannah Dale and director Jack Dale, are presented with the award for the Best Art Range category by Gary Hickley, greetings division director for Team Greetings, sponsor of this award.

Right: Hannah and Jack win the Best Art Range for the fourth year in a row.

CATEGORY SPONSOR

Best Licensed Range Open to: All licensed greeting card ranges involving a licensing agreement that have been launched or updated (with a minimum of eight designs) since August 2014.

Winner Despicable Me from Danilo

Initial Reaction: "We were thrilled to win at the Licensing Awards this year, so when the Henries for the Best Licensed Range was announced we were stunned to say the least. The rest of the evening was a blur after that…"

Trevor Jones, licensing director for Danilo.

Left: (From left to right) the Danilo team – Laurence Prince (md), Katie Heap (designer), Deryl Thomas (UK sales manager), Kristy Beaumont (designer), Trevor Jones (licensing director) and Martin Carter (studio manager) are pleased to accept the Best Licensed Card Range award sponsored by Skeet Print. Director, John Skeet (right) presents the trophy.

Right: Full of ‘characters’, the Danilo team and their newest addition, a Henries 2015 trophy.

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Thank you to you all for your continued support in making an award winning company!

Tel: 01274 655980

sales@glick.co.uk

www.glick.co.uk

GLICK The Gift Wrap Division of Nigel Quiney Publications Ltd. Unit 1 Allenby House, European Industrial Park, Knowles Lane, Bradford BD4 9AB

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Best Wholesale Range Winner

Keepsake Treasures from Xpress Yourself

Open to: All greeting card ranges (of any design type) that are distributed via wholesale distributors or cash & carries that have been launched or updated (with a minimum of eight designs) since August 2014.

Left: Ade and Yvonne Longe, co-managing directors for Xpress Yourself, is proud to be presented with their Henries trophy for the Best Wholesale Range from Tony Raymond, partner for LB Warehousing, sponsor of this award.

Below: A sparkling win for Ade and his beautiful wife Yvonne.

Initial Reaction: “Our first words were "What?" when we heard our range. We were pleasantly surprised and very pleased as it's a great honour to win in such a tough and mature category.”

Ade Longe, managing director for Xpress Yourself.

CATEGORY SPONSOR

Best Giftwrappings Collection Winner

Paper Salad from Glick

Open to: All giftwrapping collections that have been launched or updated (with a minimum of eight designs) since August 2014. Entries could either be a range of giftwrap sheets or a collection of wrappings (eg co-ordinating wrap, bags, boxes, ribbons etc).

Far right: Managing director for Glick, Alison Butterworth (centre) on stage with Paper Salad’s Karen Wilson (left) and Claire Williams, is thrilled to accept the Best Giftwrappings Collection award from Simon Boyd, operations director for Progressive Greetings Live, the category sponsor.

Initial Reaction: “We were very surprised as Glick had won an award previously for Paper Salad, so delighted on a further accolade!! I wish Becky [Dobson, Glick’s director] had been there to receive it in person!!"

Alison Butterworth, managing director for Glick.

Right: (Left to right): Alison, Claire and Karen celebrate Glick’s award.

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Best Male Range Initial Reaction: “We were thrilled to win our two Henries. The first one I was so nervous I didn’t really take it all in! I don’t remember much!”

Rachel Hare, managing and creative director for Belly Button Designs.

Winner

Platinum from Belly Button Designs

Here for you from thought to finish

Open to: All greeting card ranges aimed at men (non-humour) that have been launched or updated (with a minimum of eight designs) since August 2014.

Below left: Rachel and her colleague Kate Phythian are thrilled with the award.

Below: Rachel Hare, managing and creative director for Belly Button Designs, receives the Best Male Range award from Adam Short, sales director of The Imaging Centre, the category sponsor.

CATEGORY SPONSOR

Open to: All relations or occasions greeting card ranges that have been launched or updated (with a minimum of eight designs) since August 2014.

Best Relations And/Or Occasions Range Winner Below right: In the spotlight, Rachel makes her way back to the stage as Belly Button is announced as the winner of the next category.

Left: Rachel Hare, managing and creative director for Belly Button Designs (left) and designer Kate Phythian, are elated to receive her second Henries award of the evening, the trophy for the Best Relations or Occasions Range from Nick Lee-Clarke, greeting card product manager for Fedrigoni, sponsor of this award.

Paloma from Belly Button Designs

Initial Reaction: “The second Henries award came right on the back of the first so was totally unprepared, my heart was pounding as our name was read out again! It was such a great night and as always I feel quite emotional when other publishers congratulated me… it really is a lovely industry.”

Rachel Hare, managing and creative director for Belly Button Designs.

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Best Spring Seasons Range Open to: Greeting card ranges for the Spring Seasons occasions that have been launched or updated (with a minimum of eight designs) since August 2014.

Left: Sarah Danby, co-director of Cinnamon Aitch, collects the award for Best Spring Seasons Range from GF Smith’s paper consultant, Mark Jessett.

The paper company was the sponsor of this category.

Right: Sarah beams with delight.

Winner

Springtime Easter from Cinnamon Aitch

Initial Reaction: “When I realised we'd won I was just so shocked - it was totally unexpected - and so thankful that there's a 'no acceptance speech' policy!”

Sarah Danby, co-director for Cinnamon Aitch.

CATEGORY SPONSOR

Winner

Little Creatures from Pippi & Me

Best Cute Range Open to: All cute greeting card ranges that have been launched or updated (with a minimum of eight designs) since August 2014.

Initial Reaction: “So absolutely over excited! Couldn’t quite believe it! I think I screamed when our name was called out! Going up on stage was a complete blur… and then literally I had to run for the sleeper train home… I so wanted to stay. I was still grinning from ear to ear when I reached Devon at 5am.”

Jeanette Stevenson, founder of Pippi & Me.

Right: Founder of Pippi & Me, Jeanette Stevenson, glows with pride as Vince Brearey, managing director for Offset Productions presents the award for the Best Cute Range trophy on behalf of the category sponsor.

Left: Pippi & Me’s Mrs Deer (in her 1920’s outfit) came to The Henries, thoroughly enjoyed herself, and was very pleased with the trophy!

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+ We continue to be ‘friend of the independent’

We’ll be releasing over

200 new

everyday designs in time for the new year T 01227 811600 52_PG_November 2015.indd 1

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E sales@noeltatt.co.uk

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The Henry Cole Classic Award Open to: This award is for ranges that have stood the test of time. The winner will join The Henry Cole Classic Hall of Fame with the previous winners which are Bestie from Paperlink, Eric the Penguin from GBCC, Forever Friends from Hallmark, On The Ceiling from Emotional Rescue, Me to You from CBG, Medici Cards Blue Label from GBCC, Second Nature’s Pop-Ups and Quentin Blake from Woodmansterne.

Winner

Giggles from Hanson White (UKG)

Initial Reaction: "It was great to hear Giggles had won, the range has so much history and we’re very proud of its continuing success!”

Ben Whittington, creative manager for UK Greetings.

Above: Creative manager for UK Greetings, Ben Whittington, receives the trophy for this Henries award that recognises card ranges that have stood the test of time - The Henry Cole Classic Award. CEO of The Sherwood Press, Jeremy Bacon, presented the award on behalf of the company, who sponsored this category.

Right: Ben tightly holds Giggles’ Henry Cole Classic Award.

CATEGORY SPONSOR

Best Service To The Independent Retailer

The finalists in this category were arrived at as a result of an exhaustive poll involving 1,500 independent card retailers. The retailers were invited to nominate which companies they considered to be their top three card suppliers on the service front over the last year.

There are three trophies in this category, the Gold, Silver and Bronze awards were presented to the top three scoring suppliers in the retail poll.

Initial Reaction: “Five successive years in the top three for Best Customer Service - mightily impressive! So proud of the team and a huge thank you to our very loyal customers.”

Jarle Tatt, managing director for Noel Tatt.

Bronze Winner

Right: Noel Tatt’s managing director Jarle Tatt accepts the Bronze Best Service To The Independent Retailer award from joint managing director Chris Dyson and marketing director Penny Shaw of Cardgains, sponsor of the Best Service category.

Left: Jarle and his team have worked hard for Noel Tatt’s Henries Bronze trophy for Best Service To The Independent Retailer win.

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Below: Taking to the stage, brothers Simon (left) and Ian Wagstaff, directors of IC&G, are presented with the Silver award for Best Service To The Independent Retailer from joint managing director Chris Dyson and marketing director Penny Shaw of Cardgains, sponsor of this award.

Best Service To The Independent Retailer Silver Winner

Initial Reaction: "We anticipated this night so highly and were filled with excitement…

When we heard our name called out for the Silver award we were ecstatic! The initial feeling we felt was pride. We felt proud of all the people, hard work and effort that make our customer service the best that it can possibly be. Having won Bronze last year, we were so proud that our dedication to quality and service has been recognised."

Simon and Ian Wagstaff, directors of IC&G.

Best Service To The Independent Retailer

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Right: UK Greetings’ director of independent sales, Tony Roberts, steps up to retrieve the Gold award for Best Service To The Independent Retailer for the fifth year in succession from joint managing director Chris Dyson and marketing director Penny Shaw of Cardgains, sponsor of this whole category.

Below: Tony and the UKG gang are delighted to win a Gold Henries trophy for the fifth year.

Gold Winner

Initial Reaction: "The wait and countdown is completely nerveracking, especially knowing that the whole of UKG are waiting at home for the text to tell them if we have won a service award or not.

The next feeling is pure relief and joy when your name is called out, but the craziest reaction of all is how much you want to go through it again and win again next year!"

Tony Roberts, director of independent sales for UK Greetings.

PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

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Honorary Achievement Award This prestigious award is presented to an individual who has contributed greatly to the UK greeting card industry. The winner can come from the retailing, publishing, wholesaling or the supply side of the trade.

Nominations are sought from the entire industry for this special award.

2015 Winners

John and Jennie Procter founders and co-directors of Scribbler

Initial Reaction: “We were in total shock – I only had an inkling that something may be happening when Jakki said ‘Scribble’ and looked across to Jennie who was in total shock too! We are, of course, delighted and humbled to be given this fantastic award.”

John and Jennie Procter, founders and co-directors of Scribbler.

Top right: Scribbler’s founders John and Jennie Procter received a standing ovation as they were presented with the esteemed Honorary Achievement Award given by Sound Tech’s managing director Harry Shah, who sponsored this category.

Below: Card retailing for ‘the bright young things’, Jennie and John have always had their finger on the trends pulse.

But it was a complete shock to them to be announced as this year’s Henries’ Honorary Achievers.

An excerpt of the speech given by PG’s Jakki Brown at the awards ceremony: “The recipient of this year’s Honorary Achievement Award has, over the last three and a half decades, brought verve, flair and freshness to our industry.

What they started as a lifestyle business, has evolved and expanded to become one of the best-known and well-loved brands in our industry, with both immense trade kudos and very high consumer awareness.

The very essence of the business emanates from the personalities of its founders who we honour tonight. They have always done it their way - sparky, original and brave.

They have made a radical difference to the high street, both in the design of their shops and the product mix that they offer.

This winning combination has been to the massive benefit to the industry, appealing to a young demographic, an important yet difficult nut to crack and engaging them in card buying and sending.

They are huge supporters of young fledgling companies as well as innovative designers, and the independent retail business they head up has long branched out from its London homeland to all over the UK in some of the most prominent locations.

Forever modest and self-effacing, I remember asking them several years ago during an interview why they thought they had succeeded when so many other independent card retailers have failed or not managed to expand.

“We just had a huge dollop of luck at the right time – call it serendipity,” they said.

I don’t think so. They just dared to be different and have done it very well.

There are two names scribbled on the trophy tonight as this is a truly winning partnership.

The Honorary Achievement Award 2015 goes to Jennie and John Procter, founders of Scribbler.”

Images courtesy of Noel Tatt / Esprit Illustrations by Claire Coxon / Image Source

PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

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JEREMY ’S JOURNA L Business blogging by publisher Jeremy Corner of Blue Eyed Sun.

Try, Try

Again

Below: Jeremy and friends dressed up as French garlic sellers at the France v Ireland match in Cardiff.

Bottom: Surprisingly, the Cherry Blossoms (the Japanese rugby team) beat the Springboks (the South African team) in the first match of the Cup this year.

Jeremy Corner, owner of greeting card publisher Blue Eyed Sun, gains some valuable business lessons from the Rugby World Cup. Having been born in Cape Town and a Springboks’ fan all my life, I have been in rugby heaven over the last couple of months as the Rugby World Cup, that is held every four years, has been played at a variety of football and rugby grounds throughout the UK. Despite the risk to my marriage by abandoning my wife for so many weekends, I have been fortunate enough to attend many of the games and thought I’d share with you some lessons I have learned during this time.

It didn’t start well for my team though…

1. Don’t be too over confident The first Rugby World Cup game I went to was Japan vs South Africa at Brighton’s Amex stadium. It was to be my son Sam’s first ever rugby match and the night before I asked him who he was going to support. “Who are you supporting, Daddy?” he asked. “South Africa,” I replied. “I’ll support Japan,” he announced. Knowing my son doesn’t like to lose, I tried to get him to change his mind as

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South Africa were fielding their most experienced side with 851 caps between them, they’d never lost an opening match and Japan had not won a single World Cup game since 1991. Nobody gave Japan a chance, yet win they did by 34-32!

As I was eating humble pie on the train home, my son leant in and shared his thoughts on the South African team, “Daddy you shouldn’t be too over confident or you won’t try hard enough.” This is so true of business. Success can get in the way of you

trying hard so be sure to always give your very best and never over estimate your chances of success.

2. The true value of games While I was gutted to see South Africa lose to Japan in undoubtedly the biggest upset in Rugby World Cup history, I was thrilled for my son as we got to share the experience of everything I love about sport. No game has a given result until the final whistle blows and even underdogs can triumph. The Japanese played with discipline, hard work and focus.

They were losing until the dying minutes and had two opportunities to take a penalty kick for a draw. Instead, they chose to push on for a try, which would secure them the extra points they needed for victory. This self belief and courage was so inspiring that even South African supporters had to acknowledge that the Cherry Blossoms were great to watch. The men played with real heart and one felt a real sense of the Japanese warrior spirit that day. The tournament came alive that weekend and many other teams have risen to the occasion in matches that have since followed.

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JEREMY ’S JOURNA L

Left: Gentleman and South African rugby captain Jean de Villiers with Springbok fan Jeremy.

Below: In business be able to respond to things that 'bounce' in your favour... or not.

Below right: At the Wales v SA Rugby World Cup game, Jeremy reconnected with old friends.

No matter how tough it can feel in business when things aren’t going well, digging deep and pushing hard can turn the whole experience around and be the making of you. Never give up.

3. Manners maketh the man Football is famously differentiated from rugby by being defined as ‘a gentleman’s game played by ruffians’ and rugby ‘a ruffian’s game played by gentleman’. That is not to say that rugby is without the odd ruffling of feathers between players, especially after a late or high tackle. It is however, predominantly pervaded by a sense of discipline and respect.

I purchased a special ear-piece at the ground which allows you to hear the microphone on the referee and often picks up the voices of nearby players. It’s a fascinating insight into how the men on the field conduct themselves. They are polite, considerate and respectful of the referee and the rules of the game.

Business can sometimes feel a bit rough and one can feel hard done by when a competitor challenges you. How you conduct yourself in such circumstances shows strength of character. Being polite and respectful has long-term effects on your business and those you work for. If you need to lose your temper save it for the privacy of your dressing room.

4. Simplify your KPI’s One of the Australians in our group shared an interesting lesson from a recent talk by the All Blacks’ coach. The New Zealand team simplified their team’s Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) down to just four key areas: scrums, line outs, tackling and catching the ball. I found it insightful that the defending world champions simplified their performance analysis in this way. We discussed how to simplify the KPI’s in my

Australian friend’s business and decided that his two most important KPIs are: 1) customer satisfaction 2) referrals. Without customer satisfaction his clients wouldn’t recommend him. As referrals were his primary source of new business and new accounts were worth a six figure sum to him, building systems around these two KPIs was clearly going to benefit his business.

How do you currently track your business performance? Is it simple or is it over complicated? We live in a world full of data. Sometimes too much of it can mean that we cannot see the wood for the trees.

Keep it simple.

5. The bounce of the ball You’ve probably heard the infamous joke that “Rugby is a game played by men with odd shaped balls”. The shape of the ball has a huge effect on the game as one can never be sure of how it will bounce. I was lucky enough to recently spend some time with South African rugby captain Jean de Villiers, whose international career was sadly ended by a broken jaw in the Samoa match. He pointed out that there are things like luck that are outside of your control that can affect the game. The bounce of the ball, the nationality of the referee and the weather can all impact the way a match goes. How you choose to respond as a team is key. If the ball bounces well, you need to be in the right place to catch it. If it doesn’t you have to adapt and compromise.

There are things that are outside of your company that you cannot control too. The economy, mishaps and a changing world all have an impact on our businesses. Being prepared and able to respond quickly when

things bounce in our favour is just as important as being realistic and adapting when they don’t.

6. Team work During the World Cup, New York Hedge fund manager and avid South African supporter, David Berman, showed me the similarities between rugby teams and chess. Each chess piece has a points value in the game. The king is the highest (as without him the game is over), the queen is next highest, then the castle, then knights, bishops and down to the pawns with the lowest value of one point.

Excluding the king, the points are based on how much each piece can move around the board. A queen can get to more squares than a rook and many more than a pawn.

One can allocate points to each rugby team member in a similar way by looking at how capable they are as a player and how likely they are in their position to touch the ball. Those that are more capable need to be in positions where they can handle the ball a lot more. One must remember too that while the better players need to be able to play to their strengths, each team member has an important role to play in any team including the pawns, without whom the game would soon be over.

Are your best people in the key positions that allow them to play to their strengths within your team? Do you value every team member and recognise their importance to your entire business? When teams click and work well together they are tough to beat.

I can’t even begin to tell you how much fun it has been travelling the UK following the Rugby World Cup. We had a blast in Newcastle, Birmingham, Cardiff and London.

The fans have been friendly and Britain has been a fantastic host. I’ve made new friends and reconnected with old ones too. And I’ve even taken home some food for thought for our business. I hope you have too.

Read more on Jeremy’s blog at www.blueeyedsun.co.uk/blog PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

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Innovations PG Showcases A Collection Of New Product Launches

Doggy Doings Tony Fernandes has added 12 Odd-Dogs into his Country Lovers collection. Illustrated in his inimitable style with pen and ink and a splosh of watercolour, Tony has brought out the personality and bad behaviour of our most beloved friends. All the cards are blank, sized 5” x 7" and sold wrapped with a white envelope.

Tony Fernandes 0114 2620899 www.tonyfernandesdesign.com

Heart’s Desire Super Cute

The new Up In Lights range from Smiling Faces features a red heart and individual letters which can be either wall-mounted or displayed freestanding in all types of word or name combinations. The letters are 16cm high and each take two AAA batteries (not supplied).

Smiling Faces 01444 882323 www.smilingfaces.co.uk

Way Out East Bug Art is expanding Paper and Foil, its most enduring art range, with 16 new designs.

Launched in 1992 and popular all around the world, this oriental influenced blank range is embossed with gold foil and now has 47 designs. All the cards are sold wrapped with a light brown envelope.

Bug Art 0115 907 8420 www.bugart.co.uk

Pippi & Me is super excited to be adding 16 brand new designs into its Henries Award winning cute Little Creatures range. There are new designs for Spring Seasons and occasions all in Pippi & Me’s unique style! The cards are sized 125mm square, printed on 100% FSC board and sold wrapped with white recycled envelopes.

Pippi & Me 01803 864109 www.pippiandme.com

Sea Shanty Speak Out! New from The Square Card Company is the Bubbles range, big, bold and bright collaged animals each with a blank white speech bubble above the artwork for a personalised message.

All the cards are sized 175mm x 125mm, printed on lovely thick textured watercolour board and sold wrapped with a white envelope in a lovely foiled ‘write your message here’ cello bag.

The Square Card Company 01305 848899 www.kalistileman.co.uk/

Off The Water’s latest range is absolutely brimming with Nautical Nonsense. There are eight maritime themed designs covering birthday, occasions, friendship and male humour for landlubbers and old salts alike! Printed on glossy FSC board, the cards are sized 150mm square and sold wrapped with bright coordinating envelopes.

Off The Water 01202 665280 www.offthewater.co.uk

PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

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Innovations PG Showcases A Collection Of New Product Launches

Jump(er)ed Up Made With Love Designs has launched a new Christmas jumper card collection, adding a little twist to the Christmas jumper craze. With seriously cute real jumper attachments, all handknitted by Grannie Annie (the owners’ mother), the cards are printed on rustic, recycled brown ribbed kraft board. The jumpers can also be removed and used as a hanging tree decoration.

Made With Love Designs 0161 304 7037

In The stars Stargaze is the latest range from Lizzie Chancellor, of 27 modern sentiments on gorgeous watercolour backgrounds. These beautiful cards are sized 150mm square, blank inside and are sold with recycled brown fleck envelopes.

Lizzie Chancellor 07913 921282 www.lizziechancellor.com

A Passing Thought Precious Thoughts is the debut range from Gravecard, a range to mark special occasions and be put on the memorial of a deceased loved one. The Gravecard pack includes a waterproof card with room for a personalised message, a holder/spike, a pen and a choice of coloured flower.

Gravecard 020 890300999 www.gravecard.com

Pretty In Pink Ooh La La, the flitter-finished square female range from Cherry Orchard, is now extended to include female ages 16, 17, 18, 21, 30, 40, 50, 60 and 70, and female relations 18th and 21st ages.

These pretty, quirky designs of the cards have a vintage retro appeal with itsy floral patterns, images of china cups and saucers and traditional watering cans.

Cherry Orchard Publishing 01684 295500 www.cherryorchardpublishing.co.uk

Animal Attraction The illustrated Badge Card range from The Black Rabbit is expanding to 27 gorgeous animalthemed cards, all with a wearable pin badge which forms part of the design. Illustrated by designer Lindsay Marsden, the bright animal and bird themes appeal to both adults and children alike. The cards are sized A6, printed on 300gsm white FSC board and supplied wrapped with a cream, kraft or bright yellow coordinating envelope.

The Black Rabbit 07866 467710 www.theblackrabbit.co.uk

The Next Generation The #GenerationZ range from Nocturnal Paper is designed to appeal to the first generation who have grown up in a world where mobile technology has always existed. Inspiration comes from the rise of emojis, using handillustrated pun-filled designs to encourage this generation to break away from today's impersonal mobile messaging.

Nocturnal Paper 07555 352 159 www.nocturnalpaper.com

PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

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Innovations PG Showcases A Collection Of New Product Launches

Well Sprung Uber eco-friendly card publisher, Glebe Cottage, is launching its spring collection of 30 beautiful blank photographic designs. The range includes spring flowers, animals and landscapes with corresponding notecard wallets and occasion cards. All cards are at least 50% recycled with 100% recycled envelopes, all printed on FSC certified gloss board and wrapped in a high clarity compostable bag.

Glebe Cottage 01626 369269 www.glebecottage.co.uk

New Kid On The Block

Card Couture Miss Magpie Fashion Spy is excited to be expanding its collection of fashion inspired greeting cards. Designed by social media diva and Miss Magpie founder, Niki Groom, the range comprises innovative ‘tear and share’ designs with a perforated edge and printed postcard inside, so that the recipient can send the card on should they wish – a greeting card retweet!

This 26 card range is sized A6 and sold wrapped with a white envelope.

Miss Magpie Fashion Spy 07918 191819 www.missmagpiefashionspy.com

Just out from Lorna Syson is the newly expanded Character collection, 14 fun block colour designs inspired by playful animals from waddling puffins catching fish in Northumberland to Jenkins, Lorna’s studio dog, who takes centre stage in many of the designs.

Lorna Syson 020 84659819 www.lornasyson.co.uk

On Our Patch Patchwork is a fun, colourful range from new publisher Dilly & Pink. Each card features a brightly patterned square attachment reminiscent of a patchwork quilt, with a cutout shape finished with a jewel or a pearl.

Covering birthdays and occasions, all the cards are handmade out of recycled materials and presented with a polka dot envelope that really stands out on the shelves.

Dilly & Pink 01371 830891 www.dillyandpink.co.uk

In Spades The Meaning Of Life Life is a new humorous photographic range of 12 designs from The Original Poster Company featuring quirky and colourful shots of people of all ages in funny situations and poses. The cards are 152mm square, finished with a highgloss varnish and silver foil and supplied wrapped with white ribbed envelopes.

The Original Poster Company 01932 267300 www.originalposter.com

Kent coast-based publisher, Have a Gander, has just released Seaside, a new range of 12 square designs designed by Peter Gander, evoking a nostalgic golden era of the British seaside holiday. Combining inspiration from both vintage sweet wrappers and pop art, each card features a well-known seaside icon in an impactful starburst. The cards are 125mm square, printed on ivory-coloured board and sold wrapped with a brown kraft envelope.

Perfect for dropping a line home from holiday or for sending to a friend on the coast.

Have a Gander 07973 335 836 www.haveagander.biz PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

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In Conversation With... Dean Hoyle

The Full

Works

“I really never intended to go back into business, let alone as a retailer, but I’ve got the bug again, which is quite frightening, even for me!” admitted Dean Hoyle, co-founder of Card Factory, referring to his recent acquisition of a 30% stake in The Works retail chain where he has fully embraced the role of chairman.

With a toe-hold still in Card Factory (for whom he remains as non-executive chairman of the operational board) and waving the blue and white scarf as owner/chairman of Huddersfield Town FC, the publicity-shy Dean Hoyle revealed why he has got his “mojo back”.

Eight years ago Dean Hoyle achieved his childhood dream of buying the football team he has adored since he was a nipper, Huddersfield Town; five years ago he achieved most people’s wildest dreams of selling a company he and his wife (Janet) had started from scratch for an off the scale sum (£400 million). Not only that, but he had come from nowhere (well, a couple of shops in the 90s) and gone on to turn greeting card retailing on its head with Card Factory. That company he and Janet founded has arguably made the greatest impact on the UK greeting card trade in its entire history, with its vertical integration model (successfully printing and

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publishing and retailing its own cards and affiliated products at prices lower than many thought were sustainable).

Sure, Card Factory’s astounding growth has attracted its critics, notably for selling cards too cheap as well as being accused of killing off independents who have been unable to compete, but its game changing impact cannot be denied. And is unlikely to ever be repeated. Most people would be happy to reach the top of a tree that few thought would grow, let alone become such a towering presence.

With full health and bank balance to match, a very happy marriage, lots of interests (Huddersfield FC for starters!) and the unusual bonus of maintaining a watchful eye over his legacy (as nonexecutive chairman of the operational

Below: The Works currently trades from 300 stores, but Dean Hoyle sees no reason why that could not be increased to 1,000.

Middle: The Works serves over 22.5 million people each year, and sells over 40,000 different products with craft having been a major development area.

Bottom left: Dean has his mojo back! Seen here with some of the children in his local community on a day trip with The Town Foundation, a charity he and his wife Janet founded.

board of Card Factory, which is now a PLC), what on earth is Dean Hoyle doing re-entering back into the risky retailing fray?

“I am only 48 years-old, perhaps I sold out too young!” says Dean implishly, with something of a hyperactive schoolboy about him.

It was only out of respect for someone who worked for Endless Capital, who implored Dean to consider buying a stake in The Works when its previous chairman was looking to retire, that he gave it a thought.

“I initially dismissed it, but when I looked at it again I could see that The Works was a good business that could grow.” The Midlands-based group had already clawed itself back from having gone into administrative receivership in 2008, partly by diversifying from being predominantly a discount book retailer to one that sold all manner of end of lines – notably stationery, gifts, games and craft products, as well as a handful of greeting cards, giftwrap and even pet products. And this broad base was part of the appeal for Dean.

“I suddenly saw lots of upsides of the business. It is agile, not tied to many in stock

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In Conversation With... Dean Hoyle

Giving Back Big Time Part of Dean’s self-imposed remit at The Works is to instigate a charity element to the business.

This will be a continuation of decades of charitygiving activity. Card Factory has given £millions to Macmillan Cancer Support over the years.

Since acquiring Huddersfield Town FC, in 2012 Dean and Janet founded (and have continued as the leading lights of) The Town Foundation, an umbrella charity that has funded all manner of worthy projects that help children and young people across Huddersfield and the West Yorkshire area.

Its achievements to date include providing an astonishing 333,000 breakfasts through its Breakfast Clubs to needy children, who would otherwise go to school hungry.

Above: Although still non-executive chairman of the operational board of Card Factory, having not been involved in the card chain on a day to day basis for the last five years, Dean and his wife Janet have been able to spend a lot of time developing The Town Foundation which centres around helping children and young people in the community, such as through its Breakfast Clubs.

lines, has a strong family and student following. It can respond quickly to trends and performs well in a variety of locations, from high streets to out of town retail parks, outlet centres and even garden centres,” sums up Dean.

He also was attracted to the fact that The Works is not yet that well-known as a retail brand.

“Some seven or eight years ago, Card Factory wasn’t that well-known. The tipping point is around 400 stores and The Works currently trades from 300 stores,” he says with an emphasis on the word ‘currently’.

“I like expanding quickly!” Dean says assuredly, knowing he has a secret weapon in his armoury in the form of Tony Barraclough, Dean’s right hand property man at Card Factory who has also joined The Works, as non-executive property director.

“Tony started working with me when we only had a few shops at Card Factory. He had been looking forward to his retirement, but when I mentioned joining me at The Works he changed his mind, which is great as he is the best.”

Dean admits he has surprised himself how much he is enjoying his new task at The

Above: While greeting cards are not a major part of The Works’ portfolio, it does sell both everyday and seasonal products as well as card making elements both instore and on its website.

Works. “I am absolutely hooked!” he said. Only a few weeks into the job not only are his sights firmly set on growing the number of stores, but also developing the product mix too, through setting up an in-house design studio team and is personally on the hunt for someone to head it up.

“The key to retailing is about knowing your product that puts cash in the till. It is more exciting than football!” he says As effusive as he is about The Works and how he is aiming high, the shutters come down when any suggestion is made that this will be ‘Card Factory mark two.’

“I am still on the board of Card Factory and have to draw a professional line between the two businesses – and I can’t take on the beast I created can I?” states Dean matter of factly as if someone mentioned an ex-wife with whom they still have an amicable relationship, but are not as much fun as their new partner.

“Greeting cards account for, at most, only 5% of The Works’ sales. I was informed, however, at one of the first management meetings I attended at The Works, that greeting cards and giftwrap were performing badly in our shops. I do think it is a situation I should be able to rectify!”

The Whole Of Hoyle Dean left school with no qualifications because he was too interested in football to learn.

He did initially decide to become an apprentice engineer. However, it was seeing an advert in a local paper that led him to abandon his engineering career and enter the greeting card market.“I saw a business for sale in The Yorkshire Post selling greeting cards out of the back of a van for £2,000,” he recalled.“It only had a turnover of £36,000 so it was very small. I built it up to a £150,000 turnover in five years with a £50,000 profit.”

In 1997 he set up a shop in Wakefield with his wife Janet, which went on to become the Card Factory brand. He remembers the first day he opened the shop: “We opened the store at 9am and at 9.15am one old lady walked in and I thought, ‘The pressure’s on here’. I actually went upstairs, because I couldn’t handle it.” Half an hour later Janet shouted up to him. “I went downstairs to see what she wanted and as I turned the corner the shop was absolutely jam packed.”

That was the start of it. When they had four shops, two of which run by Dean, the other two by Janet, he broached the idea of opening another one.“Why do you want another one?” said Janet, who readily accepts that 800 stores on, it was a risk worth taking. However, it was her good sense that was the clincher when Card Factory faced the problem that publishers refused to supply them and Dean floated the idea of them producing their own products.

“What is the point of us owning our own business if we are being dictated to by others,” she said.

Dean believes one reason for his determination to succeed was inherited from his mother, a single parent who had to fight to keep him when he was a baby.

“I was due to be adopted by a doctor in Edinburgh, but when I was born my mother decided to keep me. Because she was 27 years-old they accepted her decision. I never met my father, but I think my mother’s strong willpower came through to me.”

Above: Dean and Janet Hoyle have been together since they were childhood sweethearts.

Left: It started with one shop, now Dean and Janet Hoyle’s legacy, Card Factory, is trading from over 800 stores.

PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

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Animal Cards Focus

Furry

Paw-traits As thousands of Syrian refugees flee the war, leaving behind all their worldly possessions, some couldn’t bear to leave their pets behind. The stories of felines and pooches making the long and dangerous journey with their owners have pulled on our heart-strings and demonstrated the strong bond between man and beast.

And, with the finalists in both the Best Art Range and Best Cute Range categories in The Henries this year all showcasing animal collections, it seems the ‘herds’ of animals on cards just keeps on growing.

PG asks a safari of card publishers why we adore animals, how fauna has inspired them and what are the new ‘pet’ favourites on card designs.

Lola (Amanda) Mountain, director of Lola Design: ● Creature comforts: “Our fur-baby, Rocky, a French bulldog, is often the muse behind my work. He's such a funny and lovable character and quite often mischievous. He has featured in our Floral Dogs cards and art prints range and you may soon find his face on a few other stationery and ceramic items to complement the card range.

We are so lucky to have animals in our lives. They teach us humanity and they love us unconditionally. Rocky is with me every day... he is of course head of security at Lola HQ so I would be lost without him and I’m sure he would feel the same.

Aside from our pets, we have a responsibility to protect the natural environment that we share with them. Humans tend to get a bit carried away; we have a lot to learn from other beautiful species.” ● Animal inspiration: “My love for dogs often comes through in my work. I am also inspired by the countryside and all animals and I have captured this in my Country Animals and the Trudy ranges.

Hares, Highland cows and pheasants are popular, which have all had the Lola treatment in recent months.” ● Fauna favourites: “Dogs are still very popular; we all love our dogs. Birds, from the puffin through to the peacock, also seem to be appearing on shelves more frequently now.

There is however, a definite trend towards the more exotic birds, which I believe will grow particularly as we head towards the spring.”

Above: Lola and Rocky.

Left: Lola Design’s Floral Dogs range features her dog Rocky.

Top: Heather Alstead has an adorable bear design for every occasion.

Above left: Get lost in Acorn Woods, a whimsical, lighthearted journey of forest friends on cards from Allihopa.

Right: There’s a whole menagerie hiding in the seven new age designs added to the popular Lola range from Cherry Orchard.

Jo Clark, artist and director of Jo Clark Design: ● Creature comforts: “I think increasingly we spend more time with our animal companions than our human friends and family. Working from my home studio I am so glad to have my cat Daisy as my buddy to keep me company. Pets have become a big part of our families, and sharing pictures of them on social media has had a huge impact on trends.” ● Animal inspiration: “I've always been fascinated by animals and nature, and they've been a huge source of inspiration to me. My Nan always had dogs and the love she had for them was on a par with any human family member. So I wanted to share my love of all animals through cards, hoping they would brighten someone’s day.” ● Fauna favourites: “Yes, it's a close race between cats and dogs ranges in my collection, I'd say the cats have it by a whisker! You're either a cat person or a dog person, people fit into either one of these brackets or both. I wouldn't quite trust someone who didn't! The ‘Be More Dog’ O2 ad pretty much covers all bases, and has universal appeal; it’s very clever. And puffins well, they have smiley faces, live by the sea, and are super cute - they have it all!”

Above: Jo’s cat Daisy.

Left: A 2015 Henries Awards finalist, Jo Clark Design’s Cat In Hats range.

PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

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Animal Cards Focus

Chloe Gardner, director of Chloe Gardner: ● Creature comforts: “We love animals because they can be so loving and loyal and they depend on us. They are often very sweet and funny too.

My dog sadly died earlier this year aged 16.

We lived in Brazil for five years and he adopted us and never left my side. When we returned to Scotland we brought three dogs back with us, and Luxo (Luxury in Portuguese) lived with us here for ten years until his health failed him last July.

He was the most amazing dog and went everywhere with me sitting in the front of the car.

He inspired my work in every way simply because he made me so happy and it passes through to my work and that is so important as, after all, the aim of my work is to bring a smile to people's faces!” ● Animal inspiration: “I now live in a little cottage on a Scottish beach, surrounded by woods and I can't help but be inspired by the animals and birds surrounding me. I have young children and they adore animals too, and their enthusiasm is infectious.

We go to the zoo and get inspired by the amazing animals there, such as the walking penguins and the rockhopper penguins in my much loved penguin cards.

As I lived in Brazil, my work is inspired by Brazilian colour and joie de vivre too, but the subject matter (the animals) are from here.” ● Fauna favourites: “As I work more and more in real feathers to create my animal artwork I am restricted by what feathers I can find to work with so I can't do everything I would like, and my collages take a long time, so sadly I sometimes lag behind trends. I am just finishing a puffin and have almost finished a scruffy feather owl that I have been working on for over a year now! I am a commercial artist though so I do realise that there are certain animals that customers especially love so I do try and feature those and try to find a unique way to represent them.”

Jane Crowther, art director of Bug Art: ● Creature comforts: “I like animals so much that I'm not sure I can explain why. Is it a nurturing and empathic thing? I am certainly guilty of the anthropomorphising of animals, but I think that's helped me as a card designer. There's cuteness, beauty, innocence, fun… I could go on.

It's not just a sentimental thing though, there's also an aesthetic and more profound love of the natural world.” ● Animal inspiration: “When designing a card, there are three aspects that I consider when creating an animal image, the first is design aesthetic; is the design attractive? The second consideration is cuteness appeal. If the customer is emotionally touched by the card image then you've probably got a sale.

There's also humour. If I have all three of these, Bingo! Sometimes, getting just one of these aspects right and we can have a best seller. Back in 2002, I designed a classic cat card that has consistently sold well across the world (over 250,000 sales to date).

Recently, I've been drawing a lot of birds, also rabbits and hares, which are my personal favourites. I have had pet house rabbits for the last 15 years and am somewhat obsessed.”

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PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

Above right: Chloe’s dog Luxo was a 'vira lata' or 'can turner' as they call mongrels in Brazil, who moved to Scotland with her.

Above: Chloe Gardner’s walking rockhopper penguins with multicoloured tops. The original image of the penguins was made with guinea fowl feathers.

Right: ‘Maiden Voyage’ from Tomcat Cards.

Amber Elise, artistic creator of Amber Elise: Creature comforts: “When I was eight years-old we got a cockatoo.

Yellow mohawk and rosie red cheeks, Billy was my first pet. Years later my dad bought a parrot, we called him Captain Flintos, Flinty for short. He was a real character, a complete chatterbox, and he became part of the family. Having birds flying around as I grew up definitely inspired me later on.” ● Animal inspiration: “I enjoy naming the birds in my range almost as much as drawing them. Half of the designs in my Great British Bird collection are named after friends and family, and that’s normally my starting point. It gives them a personality from the offset and I try to create that through my illustrations.” ●

Above: A vibrant yellowhammer on a card by Amber Elise.

● Fauna favourites: “Over 20 years I've seen the popularity of different animal designs change. Cats remain a constant. Owls (which to me seem a bit cat-like) have been enormously popular in the last few years. The beauty of butterflies and peacocks are a classic constant.

Woodland creatures are still popular. Birds are a big thing now.

This brings me to dogs. I was once advised by a very experienced agent to avoid dog designs. She said, "Cat lovers like all cats. Dog lovers tend to like different types of dogs.” It's difficult to create a generic dog card. However, with digital printing and smaller print runs, card companies are now able to publish more diverse ranges and I can see that dog designs have become increasingly popular, especially with the smaller dog breeds such as sausage dogs and pugs. We don't digitally print so we're sticking with cats for now... and possibly more rabbits.”

Above left: Jane Crowther’s pet house rabbits, Becky and Howser.

Left: A beautiful brown hare design from Bug Art.

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Animal Cards Focus

Louise Tate, artist and director of Louise Tate Illustration: ● Creature comforts: “Animals have been linked to our lives since the beginning of time and our pets give us the most rewarding relationships from childhood and onwards. We all adore images and illustrations of our favourite animals, you can see this on social media when most ‘likes’ are given to images of animals!” ● Animal inspiration: “I studied zoology and have always been fascinated with where animals come from, how they develop and work in their own habitats. They are often very amusing to watch. I like to combine these two elements into the animals I choose to illustrate for greeting cards and art prints. From an anteater to a horse, insects and fish play a role too - my housefly and parrot-fish designs seem to fascinate people!” ● Fauna favourites: “Domestic animals are always popular as well as our native ‘forest’ animals. I’ve seen the owl motif gaining popularity.

The Flamingo continues to be on trend, the shape of the bird and the colour lends itself very well to illustration, as do safari animals such as the elephant, giraffe and crocodile.”

Left: Louise and her dog Tawny.

Right: Beautiful and clever, flamingoes within a flamingo on a design from Louise Tate Illustration.

Above: Cinnamon Aitch is home to a menagerie of wild and colourful animals, such as this Gypsy design.

Above right: Desito’s Whimsicals range which is full of fuzzy little animals doing cutesy things.

Below: A beautifully ‘batty’ card from Sarah Ray. Bottom left: Animals scamper throughout Emotional Rescue's card designs.

Matt Nguyen, founding director of Jolly Awesome: ● Creature comforts: “I think as humans we generally have an innate soft spot for anything cute and furry. This love is amplified even more whenever we notice them displaying human traits. I guess this explains why we laugh when we see YouTube videos of a cat acting a bit 'd*ckish' or a dog saying 'I love you'.” ● Animal inspiration: “I'm an animal lover, which is lucky because I'm not that great at illustrating people. It's just more fun creating animal designs because there's such a huge variety in the animal kingdom from which to draw inspiration. I enjoy the process of looking at an animal and trying to think about how I Above: Director of Jolly Awesome can create humour based around their appearance, Matt Nguyen’s French Bulldog Raffy reputation or mannerisms, features in a growing number of his card designs. or even just a pun around Left: Part of the country set, a fox on a Jolly Awesome card. their name.

I personally love French bulldogs, they're so chilled and clown-like. I've been obsessed with Frenchies for the past three years since I first followed a couple of them on Instagram, so much so that I got my own little Frenchie puppy this year called Raffy. He's on a few of my cards now.” ● Fauna favourites: “I honestly think any type of cute dog will always be popular - especially in Britain. We're a nation of animal-lovers that's particularly close to man's best friend.”

Above left: Red Berry Hill’s Top Dog range, featuring 20 big and bold portraits of the most popular dog breeds in the UK, includes a black Labrador, pug, golden retriever and Westie.

Above: A birthday bear card from Rosanna Rossi’s mini (120mm x 120mm) collection.

Below: Rose Hill Designs’ new range ‘Have you seen this cat?’ is inspired by seeing lost signs for cats around. However, the range is not because the lovely cats are lost, but because they are amazing like you!

Bottom: Card publisher, Tiger Mill, photographs pets, more specifically dogs, which hold a special place in peoples’ hearts and lives.

PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

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Designer Focus

The HighlandFlynn Back in 2002 a new award category was introduced into The Henries, Most Promising Young Designer or Artist. With a smile as broad as the stage, a young textile graduate came up to collect that inaugural trophy.

Heather Flynn might have showed ‘promise’ back then, but as the creator and co-creator of Alice Scott and Happy Jackson brands respectively, which reached the finals in five Henries categories this year, she has even more cause to smile now.

PG met up with Heather and her alter ego Alice Scott!

I Above: The new Happy Jackson that is produced under licence by H&A and is now in Boots.

Inset: Heather Flynn, the creator of Alice Scott and co-creator of Happy Jackson.

Below: Heather Flynn with her Happy Jackson co-creator Giles Andreae at the recent Henries at which Happy Jackson was in the finals in two categories and Alice Scott appeared in three.

f there was ever a testimonial for why young creative graduates should be open to going into greeting cards, Heather Flynn is a sparkling one.

“It was 2001 and I had graduated in printed textiles and had every intention to look for a job in fabric design. There I was at the New Designers show when I was approached by UK Greetings and asked if I would like to go for an interview about designing greeting cards. While I had never considered greeting cards as an option, I couldn’t see any reason not to at least go for the interview - and started a three month placement!” recalls Heather.

She then, immediately after this, took up an opportunity to move to Hallmark.

Though she didn’t know it at the time, her first week there was significant for two main reasons - one was over 6’ with strawberry blonde hair, the other a bit smaller with an Northern Irish accent.

“As Hallmark was to start publishing Purple Ronnie on cards and I was to be involved in developing the ranges I was introduced to

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Designer Focus

Giles Andreae, its creator, with whom I have gone on to develop Happy Jackson.

In that very same week 13 years ago, I went to Hallmark’s London studio to meet Martin Powderley, who headed it up. He went onto become group creative director of Hallmark and now of course is creative director of Pigment, which publishes both Alice Scott and Happy Jackson on cards under licence”, sums up Heather. “I had no idea back then that both these men would become my mentors and be so instrumental in helping me to achieve what I have.”

Although Heather became completely captivated by designing cards - “appreciating the very special and complex relationship between the design and words, the sender and receiver” - almost four years go, Heather took the bold decision to leave Hallmark and stride out on her own creative path.

“I had been designing cards for 10 years by then and wanted to see if I could design any other products that featured my own brands. I tentatively met up with Giles, who I had got to know very well over the years of us developing Purple Ronnie exclusive ranges for retailers, and asked him for his advice. As ever, he was wonderful, positive and supportive and planted a seed that we should do something together,” says Heather.

A few months down the line, with a lunch date looming at which to discuss developing a loose idea for a colourful brand with the working title of Jackson Jones (for which Giles had already come up with the logo idea), Heather spent two frantic evenings coming up with some rough concepts to show Giles.

“That was how Happy Jackson came into being,” says Heather. Armed with a few sample ideas of how Happy Jackson could be translated onto products, Heather and Giles visited the Spring Fair.

“Giles showed it to gift company Wild & Wolf and they immediately got the joyous, exuberant, fun essence of the brand, which is so evident in how they have helped us to drive the brand,” explained Heather.

While Wild & Wolf was no stranger to licensing, for Pigment to sign Happy Jackson 74

PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

Top left and middle : The simply stylish appearance of Alice Scott, published on cards by Pigment, which has a diversity of voice depending on the occasion.

Top right: Alice Scott wrap from Penny Kennedy.

Above: Some of the Wild & Wolf Happy Jackson products.

was significant for the publisher - and for Heather and Giles.

“We both knew Martin [Powderly] well, but Pigment had never really done licensing.

What was so great is that they committed to it in such depth - we were up to 200 card designs within a year with them at the same time that Wild & Wolf was on a steep trajectory with the brand too.”

With Happy Jackson giftbags being produced under licence with Penny Kennedy, tins with Elite, a new range of toiletries in Boots through H&A and a strong following on social media, those two evenings Heather spent on the original

idea have led to her spending 60% of her time working on developing the brand further.

However, Heather currently devotes the other 40% to her alter ego, Alice Scott, which she creates and drives entirely herself.

“I decided against using my own name and Alice Scott just popped into my head – she sounds Scottish, which I am too of course. I love the fact that I switch off of Happy Jackson and go into Alice Scott mode,” reveals Heather.

While there is a continuity within Alice Scott, mainly black and white artwork (with a quirky touch of pink here or there), there is a diversity of tone within the range.

“As I have got older I have really appreciated that while sometimes you want just a beautiful card that says something simple, that can say virtually nothing and everything at the same time, there are other times that you want to send a card that looks very stylish, but is fun in its sentiment.

I felt Alice Scott could combine the two, juxtaposing the old with the contemporary,” says Heather.

With the Alice Scott range scooping a Henries award last month for Pigment and the giftwrap with Penny Kennedy also making the finals, plus designs now also available on mugs through McLaggan Smith, Heather’s alter ego is making her presence felt.

So, what’s next in this ‘Most Promising Young Designer’s’ sights? “I do have another idea for a brand up my sleeve - this time more surface pattern based, ironically going back to where I started all those years ago!” recognises Heather.

Happy Heather Heather Flynn shares some of her lessons in life as well as her fave raves.

What advice would you give to young ‘Heathers’?: “I would tell them to go into cards.

I would tell them that being ‘commercial’ is not a dirty word. I would say be confident in your ideas, but be willing to comprise sometimes.”

Your personal motto?: “I am a terrible procrastinator so I try and adopt a ‘Get it down, get it out’ mantra to try and hurry myself to make a decision.”

What’s your guilty pleasure?: “Fish fingers, chips and peas.”

Who would you most want to go for a drink with?: “Leonard Cohen.”

Above: Heather’s dog Bert stars in the Alice Scott range.

Above right: Heather with Martin Powderly, creative director of Pigment, who has been a mentor to her.

What four things would you take with you on a desert island?: “My sausage dog Bert, pen and paper and an endless supply of Elizabeth Arden Eight Hour Cream.”

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ARTSOURCE

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Keino

Jeannine Rundle

Christine Tappin

Hannah Wood

Pope Twins

Emmeline Pidgen

Paula Doherty

Helen Poole

Andy Rowland

Rachel Green

Chloe Robertson

Jo Parry

Jen Leggett Paul Collis

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Marcello Corti , Barbara Gerardi

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ARTSOURCE SECTION OF PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS CONTACT TRACEY ARNAUD ON

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ART SOURCE

PG helps to paint a pretty picture of freelance artists, designers, verse writers and photographers’ worlds in order to promote their talents to publishers and, conversely, make it easier for publishers seeking artists.

Michelle Illing

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD When my lovely grandmother passed away in 2006 I remember reading Dads like you are hard to find You’re precious and you’re rare, the verses in the sympathy cards my grandfather received. They brought They couldn’t find a nicer Dad him a lot of comfort, and I remember thinking I’d like to do that, I’d like to Not here or anywhere. be able to reach out to someone with my words and help people express in writing what they cannot do themselves. This is a feeling that But dads like you aren’t hard to find has stayed with me since, and in 2013 I finally plucked up the courage to When life turns upside down For when the days gets stressful, dad, begin my career as a greeting card verse writer.

You’re easy to be found.

So far in my career I have been lucky enough to have had several verses of mine published. These include a one-liner and a selection of But dads like you are hard to find, Mother’s and Father’s Day verses (all traditional And that’s agreed by mum, HAPPY BIRTHDAY rhyming verse). I am extremely grateful to these Especially when there’s washing up Now you’re old..... companies for giving me the wonderful opportunity Or housework to be done!!

You’ll moan about the programmes of seeing my work in print.

That are showing on TV, My love of greeting cards, however, started long before even my Nan passed away. For You’ll groan about your bladder, years I’ve loved walking into various shops and reading the verses (jokes, prose and rhyming Cos you’ll ALWAYS need to pee; verse) on the cards they sold. I used to (and still do) buy cards because I like the verse on them. I You’ll hate all modern music, even have a collection of cards written by other verse writers that I bought because I liked the You’ll think youngsters take the mick’ words in them so much. My particular favourite writer being Helen Steiner Rice; I really like her But the thing that’ll wind you up the most.....

Is getting cards like this! beautiful inspirational verses.

Greeting cards appeal to me the most because I’ve always been fascinated by the sentimental side of the greeting card; I love the emotion found in the verses and the way they are used to comfort, console or congratulate another person. I love cards because I’m serving a purpose in which I am passionate about.

This includes helping people express their emotions, and I feel extremely lucky that I have been able to do this.

Tel: 01280 824551 Mob: 07840149056 Email: michelleilling123@gmail.com

Hal Halli Maybe this journey started on our block when I was a kid. I would perform a couple of magic tricks, a funny skit and a couple of imitations for the kids on the street. My ‘Elvis Presley’ was quite impressive. As I grew into adulthood, I sang in a number of Toronto based rock bands in the 80’s and though I never cut the big record deal, I wrote, sang and produced music and video for my acts, along with doing most of our promo photos. This was the beginning of my infatuation with the image.

And when rock stardom turned its back on me, I still had the need for an audience, so I put my university degree to good use. Into the classroom as a schoolmarm, I rambled. Through the chalk dust I emerged bringing a bit of rock ‘n roll energy to the arts and sciences.

I think I learned much more as a teacher than I ever did as a student and it was here that I truly experienced the immense power of art. It is truly an expression of the soul and a genuine aspect of human fulfilment. This is one of the most important things the students taught me.

After leaving teaching, I jumped into photography and Photoshop with renewed vengeance looking to create a visual fusion of all my experiences, all that I had learned. This fusion is known as photopainting.

For me the first aspect of art is observation and I discovered that beauty is everywhere, if you open your heart to it. Look at a flower. I mean really look at a flower. It’s a miracle. Or a tree.

Put your arms around it. It is so strong, so powerful. We must never forget that we are of nature.

We need to be part of it.

Email: iamhalhalli@yahoo.ca

WANT TO BE FEATURED?

If you are an artist, photographer or verse writer and would like to be considered to appear in Art Source, please contact PG’s Emma Cain on emmac@max-publishing.co.uk. This is an editorial feature and as such is free of charge.

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PG asked a selection of card retailers for their ‘hot’ card sellers.

Julian Ford, owner of Inspirations, Wimborne, Dorset A medium established market stall in a market town with a varied customer base.

Category

Name of Publisher

Product/Name Range

Comments

Cute

BGC Studios

Prelude

Humour

Brainbox Candy

Gin & Tonic

Photographic

Country Cards

General

Art

Rothbury Publishing

Across The Board

Handmade

Simon Elvin

Isabel’s Garden

Children’s

BGC Studios

Poppy Hill

Ancillary

Parmy

Glass Sculpted Mirror Message Plaque

Parmy

Her/His Smile Memorial Poem and Photo Candle Holder

The wholesaler creates its own card designs, and they are very nice ones!

The main reason though, is that I can offer my customers something different from other card stockists in the area.

This range has a gentle humour, but the more risqué ranges are loved too!

Farming, animal and tractor designs are popular because the town is surrounded by countryside.

Very good, detailed nostalgic paintings of ‘times gone by’ transport, such as steam trains, vintage cars, bikes and planes. Many of the artists are famous in their field.

Very attractive cards which look handmade even though they are commercially produced.

The large range offers value children’s cards too, which feature simple sentiments that aren’t too wordy.

A glass plaque to hang on the wall with sentimental words depicting a family member.

A heart-shaped stand-alone plaque with a tealight holder and a frame to add a picture of the person who has passed away.

Top: Gin & Tonic is a gentler humour range from Brainbox Candy.

Right: 'Bad Hair Day' from Country Cards.

Julie Sharred, buyer for Planters Garden Centres and Garden King, Bretby, Tamworth and Swadlincote Three garden centres (and seven card shops) in rural town areas and with a varied customer base.

Category

Name of Publisher

Product/Name Range

Comments

Art

Jonny Javelin

Velvet

Traditional

Noel Tatt

Across The Board

Abacus

General

Contemporary

Nigel Quiney

Pizazz

Ancillary

Wrendale Designs

The Country Set giftware collection

The bold and fresh painted style artwork with foil finishes appeal to customers, as well as the number of relations and occasions titles available.

We stock quite a lot of ranges from this publisher, especially the relations and occasions captioned designs.

As well as lots of pretty floral card images, Abacus has a strong offering of male-themed designs.

The lovely designs appeal to a wide female age group and are Above: Relations and occasions designs from Jonny offered at a good price point.

Javelin's Velvet range are a favourite in Planters.

As well as the greeting cards, we retail the gifts collection of stationery, tinware and ceramic items too. They’re all very good quality.

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Sarah Morris, owner of Gazebo Gifts, Totnes, Devon A medium gift & home accessories shop in a market estuary town with a varied customer base.

Category

Name of Publisher

Product/Name Range

Comments

Humour

Kiss Me Kwik

Across The Board

Photographic

General

Art

Palm Press (distributed

by YCUK) The Rhombus and Pineapple Gallery

Contemporary

James Ellis

Shakies

Stormy Knight

General

Handmade

Petra Boase

Across The Board

Children’s

James Ellis

Behind Closed Doors

Quirky, often outrageously rude, but very funny designs.

Strong imagery with a thread of gentle humour.

A local company who creates laser-cut artwork and cards of simple cut-out words or beautiful scenes.

Fabulous illustrations with shakeable glitter encapsulated within each card’s design.

Minimalist style designs on speckled brown kraft board.

Some have gold block foiled words and others are cute and funny.

Bright and beautiful and very unique.

Very sweet cards that we’ve recently added to the shop, many are on fairytale themes, with little flap doors that open to reveal a hidden image.

General

Above: Petra Boase's beautiful birds on her cards are removable and iron on!

Right: A design from Kiss Me Kwik's Ladybird range.

Laura Bell, owner of Ivad Gifts, two shops in Paisley, Glasgow A medium and a small shop in the second largest town in Scotland with a loyal locals customer base.

Category

Name of Publisher

Product/Name Range

Comments

Humour

Pigment

Across The Board

Photographic

Woodmansterne

Loose Leashes and Cattitude

Contemporary

Tracey Russell

General

Handmade

Five Dollar Shake Belly Button Designs

Across The Board General

Children’s

Molly Mae

Wee Collection

Ancillary

The Just Slate Company

Slate cheese boards

Pilgrim

Jewellery

Suitable for our customers as the humour doesn’t cross the line into being rude.

Cat and dog images always sell and these are gorgeous!

People love their pets.

They are wonderful! The designs have every relations and occasions title you can imagine and all of the different (depending on where you’re born) grandparents’ captions too.

The appeal is that both publishers’ designs are a bit different and either sparkle with crystals or beautiful and elegant embossed foiling. The cards also sit really well together without competing.

The publisher does a lovely range of cards using Scottish words and a touch of tartan.

A fabulous Scottish company that produces more than just cheese boards, but also beautifully crafted and stylish tableware.

Personally, I love this company because it really supports and works with retailers, such as free gifts and offers for our customers.

Above: With a hint of tartan and Scottish words, Molly Mae's Wee Collection is awfy bonnie.

Right: Tracey Russell's Christmas range has a plethora of relations titles.

PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

79

WE LOVE * PRINT &

FOIL&EMBOSS&FLITTER&DIE-CUTS &VARNISHING&FOLDING&FINISHING & ALL OF THE OTHER MAGIC WE BRING TO YOUR CREATIONS WWW. THEIMAGING CENTRE.CO.UK

*

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LYNN’S LINES

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L

On the ball comments by retailer and publisher Lynn Tait of The Lynn Tait Gallery.

Changing Habits

In order for my two businesses - card retailing and publishing to expand and for me to pursue my other passions (photography, travel, my grandchildren, The Ladder Club etc) I have become an expert in delegation. I have no problem with doing so because my skills are limited and I know that by delegating these tasks they will be done more ably by others.

However, one aspect of the business I do love and have never delegated is the buying.

I am not good at serving in the shop. I don't like routine and I am very untidy. I have done everything in my two businesses at some point, but as soon as I could afford others to do things that I wasn't good at I happily handed over the baton and delegated. But the buying I’ve always undertaken.

I suppose after 30 years, if I can't buy successfully I shouldn't be in the retailing business. This is my expertise and what I love doing.

Being in a tourist area, the busiest period in my shop is June to September. In the weekdays during the summer holidays the shop takes the same amount as at the

weekends, so we really have to be fully stocked and have to really motor with our sales during this period.

In May/June we stock up on greeting cards at PG Live and I would normally buy from about 12/15 companies.

Harrogate Home & Gift has historically been a major fair for buying as we also have a trade stand there selling my greeting cards. I pay my agent to help me on the stand so that I have been able to be a free spirit and concentrate on the buying.

At all the shows I visit a lot of preplanning goes into the ordering of product. I look at the trade fair websites and research the companies in which I am interested. I do a stock take of the companies from which I need to orders, the old faithfuls, and companies who, for whatever reason, have lapsed.

I would expect to add about 6/8 new companies, so while I am locating the stands that I have earmarked to visit, I keep an eagle eye out for new companies.

I would know immediately if a product is suitable for my shop as we have quite a strict criteria: nostalgic, seaside, children's wear,

Below: The Lynn Tait Gallery in Leigh on Sea. Bottom: Leigh on Sea in Essex can be very busy in the summer.

wooden toys, current trends, certain brands and stock that complements ranges we already do, eg Orla Kiely. I know exactly who my customer base is and I don't stray from this.

Basically it has to ‘fit in’. I don't buy isolated products that just take my fancy or that I like.

I then make sure I know where the supplier’s stands are as Home & Gift is so spread out and I have to make good use of my time as my mobility isn't as good as it used to be.

This year I ordered from 33 companies at the fair. I was delighted to reorder from eight suppliers who I had lapsed with as I couldn't get to them last year, as there was no bus touring around the fair.

There were also eight new companies that I ordered from… and that is where the problems began!

I will only be reordering from three of these new companies again, not because of the product, but because of the agro the suppliers gave me and the extra work they caused at such a busy time.

I don't understand when companies spend so much money on exhibiting at shows and then lose their customers through dreadful service.

I totally accept that these companies will ask me to pay pro forma, but the problems that arise from pro forma agreements are just not worth the bother and stress.

One company sent me a pro forma in July for a delivery in October (when the stock PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

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LYNN’S LINES Left: Children's toys with a nostalgic element are suitable for Lynn's shop.

Bottom left: The Harrogate Home & Gift trade show is one of Lynn's main buying fairs A Dave Thompson Illustration design on a Star Editions card.

Below: Taking control of the business' finances and thinking through your buying pattern can create huge positives for your shop - A Toasted design from Urban Graphic.

arrived). So instead of the usual 30 days terms, they wanted my money for three months before I had sight of any stock.

Another company I paid £650 and when no stock arrived after three weeks I emailed and rang. There was no reply. I was convinced I had lost all my money. When I did hear back, the stock was then promised and eventually came a week after the promised date minus £50 worth of product, which I was told wasn't in stock. Knowing I never wanted to deal with this company again I asked for a reimbursement cheque instead of a credit note.

One company that wasn't pro forma sent some damaged stock, which I then had to photograph to prove where the damage was. I waited and waited for replacements. I asked when they were coming as I wished to pay the bill. Then I got menacing emails saying my account was on hold! Then eventually replacements came - lids but no tin! - and another horrible email the day after they arrived demanding payment.

Three times I was contacted by their accounts company and they admitted they had nothing on file that there was a query.

The replacements eventually came three months later.

We are so busy during the summer. A number of our deliveries are over £2,000/£3,000, arriving on a couple of pallets, so we just do not have the time to photograph a tin with a dent in it.

There has to be a certain amount of trust when you deal with a company for a long time. The relationship between an agent, 82

PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

publisher and supplier is a long-term partnership. There are a number of agents who I have been seeing for 30 years and some companies that I have been dealing with for the same length of time.

I have a good track record with them, and whenever there has been a problem, I have always contacted them and come to some arrangement with the payment.

As a card publisher I know that retailers do not always keep to the 30 days term, but I believe in keeping in contact if you are going to delay payment. But I do take exception to companies ringing me in the shop a week before payment is due asking if I am going to pay the bill on time! It’s a tad insulting and does smack of desperation on their part.

Also this week for the first time I have had companies refusing to take my cheque and asking for a BACS transfer or credit card payment. I know I am a dinosaur, but I think we should have the option to pay how we want because we are set up with a system that makes it easier for us.

Since I sacked my book-keeper who was late three times with my VAT returns last year without telling me (he had received three warnings from the VAT office), I have taken much more control over the books and the finances.

I realise that large sums of money were lost in credit notes that were not chased up and lost invoices. It feels good to be in control, and although it takes me a long time it is good for my self-esteem and I know that I have saved a lot of money this year by taking control and keeping my eye on the ball.

I have also had to organise my shop orders differently these last couple of years. Some companies I have been dealing with for nearly 30 years and I have a great business partnership with so this has been easier.

With my major suppliers it takes a long time to place orders for the shop and once

the busy summer season starts we don't want large deliveries, so I have ordered enough stock to last me two months and the companies gave us 60 days terms.

This was a win win scenario. We sold 40% more stock than when we were on 30 days terms, I didn't have to see the agents after a month, and we were always fully stocked. It also balanced out the number of companies that we had to pay on pro forma.

This year, despite the summer holidays not being the best weather wise, the shop had the best summer’s trading since 2011.

This was purely down to this different buying strategy, planning, talking to the suppliers, being fully organised with the buying at trade fairs, monitoring cash flow, keeping control of the business (credit notes etc) and being efficient with the VAT returns.

It has reinforced to me how important it is to regularly review your systems and discuss with your staff how things can be improved.

After a disastrous first three months of this year, we are changing to shorter opening times for 2016, in January and February, yet in the summer, when we are busier, we are going to open longer. I have given my staff six months’ notice that this is going to happen. By opening half an hour later in winter I will save £2,500 a year and then in the summer we will be ready for extra sales.

Having been in business a long time it is so easy to become complacent. I must admit that getting business advice from two of my sons, who were both under 10 years old when I opened the shop, has been so lovely. Even after all these years I have enjoyed fine tuning the business. I still delegate the majority of all the jobs, but the difference is I know what is happening in my business.

I was lucky and well enough to attend The Henries awards this year, and to witness Ladder Clubbies Karen Wilson and Claire Williams from Paper Salad and Hannah and Jack Wrendale from Wrendale Designs scoop awards.

What a wonderful industry event. I was so pleased to be part of it!

83-89_Product Directory_Nov 2015_v8_PRODUCT DIRECTORIES 27/10/2015 16:43 Page 83

PRODUCT DIRECTORY

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The specialist buying group in the independent greeting card and gift retail sector‌ ‌Celebrating 25 years of Service to Members.

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tel 0203 2344011 info@blackolivestudio.co.uk www.blackolivestudio.co.uk

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Sendingg Smiles across the h miles il To get involved this September go to

www.gca.cards www.gca.cards PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

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• Greetings Cards and Gift Wrap • Stationery • Soft Toys • Figurines • Giftware and Accessories

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PRODUCT DIRECTORY

PO BO BOX OX 2161 Boulevard The Boule vard Watford W atford WD18 1BJ TTel: el: 01923 200633 FFax: ax: 01923 200636 info@cardmix.co.uk inf o@cardmix.co.uk www.cardmix.co.uk www.cardmix.co.uk CARDMIX - a cocktail cocktail of fun, CARDMIX fashionable and humorous humorous fashionable cards, covering Everyday, car ds,, co vering Ev eryday, Spring ing Occasions,, Relations,, Spr Seasons and Christmas.

Christmas.

DADDY Method of Sale: Direct to Retail Carte Blanche Greetings Ltd ® Tel: +44(0)1243 792600

www.cathtatecards.com

cbg.co.uk

@CarteBlancheGrp

Prizes for Best Window Display! Go to

www.gca.cards

Witty, gritty, switched on humour.

Cards and gifts with a real difference.

Unit 1, 45 Morrish Road London SW2 4EE Tel: 0208 671 2166 Fax: 0208 678 1119 info@cathtatecards.com

Caspari Ltd Linden House, John Dane Player Court

East Street, Saffron Walden Essex, CB10 1LR Tel: 01799 513010 Fax: 01799 513101 Email: info@caspari.co.uk www.CaspariOnline.com

Colneis Marketing York House, 2-4 York Road, Felixstowe, Suffolk IP11 7QQ T: 01394 271668 F: 01394 275114 E: colneiscards@btconnect.com

Products: Everyday cards - birthday, blank & occasions, charity Christmas cards, gift wrap, bags, tissue, ribbon, hankies, napkins, paper plate, candles, placemats, melamine trays, crackers, invitations, placecards, notecards,diaries, calendars, address books, journals, advent calendars, bridge gifts and jigsaws.

Licenses: Annie Tempest - Tottering by Gently, Kym Bowles - Lollysticks, RHS, Matthew Rice, National Gallery, Alzheimer's Society, Barnardo's, Macmillan Cancer Support.

Method of Sale: Direct to Retail

One of the UK’ UK’ss leading suppliers of Gr Greeting eeting Car Cards ds sinc since e 199 1995 5

Online Shop www.colneisgreetingcards.com

Products: Products: High quality greeting greeting cards cards with superb finishes. All major and minor titles, covering covering traditional traditional to to the latest latest in innovative innovative design, both Everyday Everyday and Seasonal.

Brands: Petals, Brands: Always Always & Forever, Forever, P etals, Lazy Days, Days, Letters Letters from from the Heart, Precious Thoughts, Precious Times, Times, Street Street Kidz, T houghts, ‘Have ‘Have a Larff’ Larff ’ and Not So Innocent!

Innocent!

Direct to to retail. retail.

Method of Sale: Direct Designers welcome, welcome, c contact ontact beverley@cherryorchardpublishing.co.uk beverley@cherryorchardpublishing.co.uk

Cherry Orchard Orchard Publishing LLP Unit 10 Duddage Business Business Park Park Brockeridge Brockeridge Rd Rd T Twyning wyning Tewkesbury Tewkesbury GL20 6BY 6BY t 01684 01684 29 295500 5500 e info@cherryorchardpublishing.co.uk info@cherryorchardpublishing.co.uk www. www. cherryorchardpublishing.co.uk cherryorchardpublishing.co.uk

Supplier

Sendingg Smiles across the h miles il

Colour House Graphics

York House, 2-4 York Road, Felixstowe, Suffolk IP11 7QQ T: 01394 271668 F: 01394 275114 E: colourhousegraphics@hotmail.com Online Shop www.colourhousegraphics.co.uk

To get involved this September go to

www.gca.cards www.gca.cards

Get involved!

www.gca.cards 84

PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

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Market leaders in Humour, Art, Photographic, Occasions and Relations cards offering a full planning service with merchandising and retail development opportunities.

Eye catching, luxurious Gift Wraps, Gift Tags, Gift Bags, Roll Wrap, Tissue Papers & Ribbons for all occasions Glick, Unit 1 Allenby House, European Industrial Park, Knowles Lane, Bradford BD4 9AB Tel: 01274 655980 email: sales@glick.co.uk www.glick.co.uk

DIPINGO DESIGN Prizes for Best Window Display! Go to

www.gca.cards

www.greatbritishcards.co.uk WATERWELLS DRIVE, GLOUCESTER GL2 2PH UK TEL: 01452 888999

Bespoke design service for retail products

The T he UK No. No. 1 in Licensed Lic ensed Greetings Greetings etings Ov err 30 lic enses nses including: including Over licenses Disney, D Disne y, Peppa Peppa Pig Pig, He Kitt Hello Kitty y, Mr Me n Kitty, Men Birds and A and Angry Bir dss t: +44 + (0)1264 388400 e: enquiries@gemma-international.co.uk co.uk enquiries@gemma-interna national. ti w: gemma-int gemma-international.co.uk ernational. ona co.uk

CARDS CARDS • WRAP • PARTY PARTY • GIFTS GIFTS

www.dipingodesign.co.uk

TM

GRASS ROOTS

INTERNATIONAL

G RASS R OOTS INTERNATIONAL A U.K owned Greeting Cards Publisher.

Our everyday ranges for all occasions and relations include traditional, contemporary, cute, humour and photographic designs. We also have a full range of Christmas and Spring Seasons.

All products are designed and printed in the U.K on the finest quality board.

BRANDS “Write from the Heart” brand includes; Corsage, Sentiments, Champagne, Celebrations and Jelly Beans.

M ETHOD OF SALE Direct to Retail

G RASS R OOTS INTERNATIONAL

Beautiful greeting cards from contemporary British artwork

Units 4 - 4A Valentines Buildin g Ra cec our se Bus in ess Par k Aintr ee, Liver poo l, L9 5 AL Tel: 0151 52 3 9600 Fax : 015 1 523 494 9 e-m ail: s ales@ writefr om th ehear t.co.uk

from the

www.dryredpress.com T +44 (0) 1273 241210

Prizes for Best Window Display! Go to

E info@dryredpress.com

www.gca.cards PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

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)

CHARITY GREETING CARDS One of the UK’s leading publishers of Charity Greeting Cards.

Impress offers a wide collection of images, including fine art, graphic, photographic and cute.

We also offer a bespoke design service for bulk orders and/or mail order fulfilment.

Impress Publishing Appledown House Barton Business Park New Dover Road Canterbury, Kent CT1 3TE Tel: 01227 811 611 Fax: 01227 811 618 email: info@impresspublishing.co.uk

LING DESIGN The UK’s leading privately owned publisher of Greetings Cards and Stationery. ...The home for and ...and the UK home for

Products: Greetings cards for all occasions, Christmas and Spring Seasons cards, gift wrap and bags, charity cards, social stationery.

Bespoke service for charities and other fundraisers.

Ling Design Ltd 14-20 Eldon Way, Paddock Wood, Kent TN12 6BE Tel: 01892 838574 Fax: 01892 838676 Email: enquiries@lingdesign.co.uk Website: www.lingdesign.co.uk

Silk Screened Retro, Pop & Classic Cards

Inspired by Music and 1960’s American Advertising. For all Vinyl & Rock‘n’Roll lovers

L E T U S TA K E YOU BAC K

60 years

Yo our N Number b O One S Supplier li off Numerals, Name, Relation & Age Labels for Greetings Cards.

environmentally friendly contemporary & vibrant paper products. greeting cards, notebooks paper pens, boxed notes

Huge selection with immediate deliveryy. Buy direct or from your wholesalerr.

Listan Labels 3 Isis Court, Wyndyke Furlong, Abingdon Business Park, Oxfordshire Abingdon, Oxfor dshire OX1 5JN T el e 01235 465489 Fax 01235 532118 Tel www.listanpublications.co.uk www .listanpublications.co.uk sales@listanpublications.co.uk

Get Ready! Download free POS at

www.gca.cards PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

+44 (0)7779 578340

To appear in the please contact

jonesy.ca

86

info@vincentmcevoy.com

Product Directory

t. 01243 780501 e. info@jonesy.ca

agents wanted

For further details please get in touch.

Warren Lomax on 020 7700 6740

Greetings cards designed to make people smile. We have a card for every occasion plus a few extra ones we made up.

150mm x 150mm and packed in 6s

Contact: Sarah Britton on 07833 089 098 or email info@lovefromlemonade.co.uk

Made in the UK

www.lovefromlemonade.co.uk

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+

The easy company I' $ .!N Great brands Great service Bespoke planning We can help with all your bespoke planning requirements. From smaller displays to redeveloping complete card departments.

originalposter.com

All our cards are supplied on consignment, so you only pay for what you sell.

We also supply card fixtures and spinners free-on-loan.

We replace slow sellers and damaged stock free of charge.

We merchandise regularly, so you don’t have to.

THAT’S WHY WE’RE ORIGINAL!

01932 267 300 endorsed product

endorsed product

T: 01227 811600 W: www.noeltatt.co.uk E: sales@noeltatt.co.uk

Cards made with love...

Three great publishers, all under one roof, contemporary, graphic, humour, cute and photographic ranges with a fantastic range of occasions and relations cards.

To appear in the

Key brands: V&A, Portobello, Spirit, Daisy Patch, Sugar Pips, Marzipan Toybox, Born to Stitch, Idols, Life, Sweet Tooth, Brights.

Product Directory

Method of sale: Direct to retail, Export and Licensing.

please contact

Riverside House, Centurion Way, Riverside Business Park, Nottingham NG2 1RW Tel: 0115 986 0115 Fax: 0115 986 0116 Email: sales@paperrose.co.uk Web: www.paperrose.co.uk www.artgroupcards.co.uk

Warren Lomax on 020 7700 6740

paperlink... pap erlink... the home of fabulous fabulous cards!

Products An exciting and innovative range of quality Birthday, relations, special occasions, art and humorous greeting cards. Full range of Christmas and Spring Seasons merchandise. Comprehensive collection of handmade cards.

Pizazz gifts.

Brand Names Pizazz, Pizazz Gallery, Say the Word, Carousel, Meadow Sweet, R&R for Men, What a Picture!

Cloudesley House • Shire Hill Saffron Walden • CB11 3FB T: 01799 520200 F: 01799 520100 www.nigelquiney.com

356 56 Kennington Rd London SE11 4LD T 020 7582 8244 info@paperlink.co.uk @paperlink.co.uk www.paperlink.co.uk

Suppliers of humorous & contemporary Birthday, Christmas, Spring Seasons, Occasions & Relations cards Brands include: Bottomline, Bestie, Wrinklies, Hat Trick, Route 69, Bangers & Flash, Humdingers, Lacie, Sassy, Stay Wonky, Patisserie, Tinklers, Made With Love, and many many more!

Method of Sale: Direct

To appear in the Product Directory please contact Warren Lomax on 020 7700 6740

P Paperlinkcards aperlinkcards @paperlinkcards @ paperlinkcards PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

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PRODUCT DIRECTORY ADVENT CALENDARS

TM

The Playful Indian cards are a unique fusion of the east and west. Simple and quirky, they have made many people smile...so what are you waiting forr, put a smile on someone’s face today!

holy y cow! it s it’s your birthd hda ay y

Greeting Cards that are unique & special with creative wit.

Looking for top-notch agents to join our expanding team.

rosierobins.com 01992 536461

Uk publisher of Greetings Cards with an extensive range of quality Birthday, Relations, Occasions and Seasonal product... available from

LING DESIGN

Mr Figgis, when we say parents invited, we usually mean to sit and watch!

Our Brands: The Crazy Side of Life, Laughter with Animals, Sporting Fun The Funny Side of Life, Twiddly Winks.

Dad - I thought you said I could be the, one to tell him you re out

Me th od of sa le : Direct to Retail 14-20 Eldon Way, Paddock Wood, Kent TN12 6BE Tel: 01892 838574 Fax: 01892 838676 Email: enquiries@lingdesign.co.uk Website: www.lingdesign.co.uk

Design-led Stationery, Gifts, Calendars, Diaries and Cards Brands Laura Ashley, Roald Dahl, Lily & Val, Vintage Ladybird, Caroline Gardner, Monsoon, Born to Shop, Flash Gordon, Boofle and many more.

Our In-house design studio and established supply chain enables us to offer bespoke services. tel: +44 (0) 1225 329494 email: sales@porticodesigns.com website: www.porticodesigns.com

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PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

RICHARD SELLMER VERLAG Freepost RRZH-KLSL-HYBY Richard Sellmer Verlag KG Stourbridge Tel/Fax: 01384877755 Email: uksales@sellmer-verlag.de Products: Richard Sellmer Verlag is producing Advent Calendars for more than 60 years.

Sensations International Ltd Unit 6, Quad Road,East Lane Business Park,East lane, Wembley,MIDDLESEX HA9 7NE Tel. 0208 3854470 Fax: 0208 385 4471 Email: sales@sensationsinternational.com PRODUCTS: World’s leading publisher of high quality plastic greeting cards. Also an extensive range of quality greeting cards covering Everyday, Occasions, Christmas and Spring seasons.

BRANDS: Cherished Thoughts, Sweet Sentiments, Buddies Always, Symphony, Thinking of You, Style, Special Wishes, Special Times, Young Editions, Groove Sensations, Forever Blessed, Grey Skies, Classics.

METHOD OF SALE: Direct to retail.

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Sendingg Smiles across the h miles il To get involved this September go to

www.gca.cards www.gca.cards

www.tomcatcards.co.uk w: www.tomcatcards.co.uk e: tomcat@tomcatcards.co.uk t: 01243 837300

The UK’s leading publishers of highest quality handmade Greetings Cards.

Products: Greetings cards for all occasions, Christmas and Spring Seasons. Spinners and other retail displays available.

Talking Pictures Cards 14-20 Eldon Way, Paddock Wood, Kent, TN12 6BE

Tel: 0845 450 1815 Fax: 0845 450 1816 Email: enquiries@talkingpics.co.uk Website: www.talking-pictures.co.uk

Products:

Greetings Cards, Gift Wrap, Social Stationery, Gift Bags, Keepsakes, Partyware.

DIRECT TO RETAIL & EXPORT

Method of sale:

Wholesale Distributors

Simon Elvin Limited Wooburn Industrial Park, Wooburn Green, Bucks HP10 0PE Tel: 01628 526711 Fax: 01628 531483 www.simonelvin.com mail@simonelvin.com

To appear in the Product Directories

Sendingg Smiles across the h miles il

TEL: 01480 435562 FAX: 01480 450599

To get involved this September go to

www.tracksltd.com

www.gca.cards www.gca.cards

UNIT 2, 12 BLACKSTONE RD, STUKELEY MEADOWS IND EST, HUNTINGDON, CAMBS, PE29 6EF

simply contact Warren Lomax on: 020 7700 6740 or email on warren@maxpublishing.co.uk or contact Tracey Arnaud on: 07957 212 062 or email on tarnaud@btinternet.com

01923 200600 | www.woodmansterne.co.uk

Designer Collection, Feelings, Impressions, Inspirations, In Touch, Isabel’s Garden, Paper Wishes, Planet Happy.

Top-notch British Greeting Cards for Thoughts that Count

Brands:

PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

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Directory of wholesalers Directory of wholesalers DIRECTORY OF WHOLESALERS ●

LONDON & THE SOUTH

MERSEYSIDE

WALES

Merseyside Greeting Cards Ltd

Merseyside’s Largest Greeting Card Distributor Due to our massive buyer power, we are able to offer you the best prices and also take a pride in our friendly service.

SCOTLAND

DORSET

Clapperton Agencies 30 McDonald Place Edinburgh EH7 4NH Tel: 01315 579009

Sunrise Business Park Higher Shaftsbury Road Blandford, Dorset DT11 8ST Tel: 01258 452125 Fax: 01258 486109

Greeting cards * Gift ranges * Pocket money toys * Balloons * Badges * Banners * Soft toys * Stationery * Collectables , including dolls * Photo frames Always something different Check us out now!!!

Mon-Fri 9.30 to 5.30 Sunday 10 to 1 Late night Thursday till 8pm Freephone 0800 0279072770 Fax: 0151 207 1564

NATIONWIDE

Unit 7 & 8 Devon Street, Liverpool, L3 8HA

R J’s Greeting Cards Ltd

HERTS & LONDON

Greeting Cards from 5p Contact R J Walkden on 0753- 9679-700

SUMAN BROS Stationery and greeting card wholesaler

Crown House Otterspool Way Watford WD25 8HL

magnus RUPERT

T: 01923 200 900 F: 01923 200 909 Great deals Great location Plentiful parking Just off the M1 Junction 5

WEST MIDLANDS

TRADING

LONDON’S NO 1 GREETING CARDS STATIONERY PARTY AND BALLOON CASH & CARRY

Trading Hours Our Opening Hours are: MON, TUES,WED & FRI 9.00 - 5.30pm THURSDAY 9.00 - 8.30pm SAT CLOSED SUN 10.00 - 4.00pm UNIT 4, THE ARGENT CENTRE, SILVERDALE ROAD, HAYES, MIDDLESEX, UB3 3BS TEL: 020 8573 2975 / 1768 FAX: 020 8561 2349 Email: info@abbeycards.com

As of Monday 27th July our new address will be: Crown House Otterspool Way Watford WD25 8HL

www.rupertmagnus.co.uk

NORTH WEST

C A P S Card & Party Store Ltd

Mon/Wed/Fri: 8.00 - 5.00 Tues/Thurs: 8.00 - 8.30 Sat: 8.00 - 12.00 Sun: 8.00 - 2.00

The North West s Largest Supplier to the Independent Specialist Card & Gift Shop

Massive range of Cards, Partyware, Gifts, Gift Bags, Gift Boxes & Gift Dressings

574 Manchester Road, Bury, BL9 9SW

0161 796 7353

Order online at www.card-party.co.uk 90

PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

To appear in the Wholesale Directory simply call WarrenLomax on 020 77006740

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BAGS

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ENVELOPES

Polypropylene & biodegradable bag specialists

GREETING CARD

F FOR OR A ALL LL Y YOUR OU R E ENVELOPE N V ELOPE N NEEDS! EEDS! Largest L argest rrange ange of iin-stock n- stock ccolours olours Over 400 Bespoke Envelope Sizes 8 Sizes Permanently in Stock RECYCLED

PAPER

100% Recycled Paper A vailable v Available

Over 40 years quality service to the trade Hotfoiling also available

T 01206 396209 E sales@badgerconverters.co.uk www.badgerconverters.co.uk

Stock & Bespoke Cello Bags Peel & Stick Envelopes Bespoke Service on Request

ORDER ON LINE AT: AT: www.regentenvelopes.com www.regentenvelopes.com 01274 583000 sales@regentenvelopes.com sales@regentenvelopes.com

GIVE Y YOUR OUR

VIP

TREATMENT TREA ATMENT T HIGH CLARITY BAGS FOR GREETING CARDS, CALENDARS AND ARTWORK ŏ ŏđŏ ŏ ŏ ŏ ŏ ŏ FOIL BLOCKING EXTENSIVE RANGE OF STOCK SIZES AND BESPOKE MANUFACTURE WRAPPING SERVICE AUTOMA ATED T WRA PPING SER VICE NEW AUTOMATED

Quality Bespoke Envelopes!

From 5,000 quantity to many millions we can produce excellent quality envelopes for you.

CALL US TODAY

Plain, printed, coloured & textured finish.

www.fulcrumfilms.co.uk

Please call us on 0843 5066684 with your enquiry or visit our website

01228 560526

100% recycled & FSC available.

www.ukenvelopecentre.co.uk We will be delighted to help!

To appear in simply call Warren Lomax on: 0207 700 6740 We’ve We’ve been producing bags of high clarity and high quality for over 30 years.

01274 220 220 www w.wrapid.co.uk www.wrapid.co.uk sales@wrapid.co.uk sales@wrapid.co.uk

or alternatively email him on warren@max-publishing.co.uk PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

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DISPLAY

UNIVERSAL

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PRINTERS

O F F S E T PRODUCTIONS

SHOP EQUIPMENT

Op

GREETING CARD DISPLAYS

• Manufacturers of

quality Display Units for over 25 years

• PVC Interlocking Tiers • High Impact 2mm Edging

• Vast range of colours available

• From one unit through to full shop reďŹ ts

INNOVATIVE DISPLAYS TO MEET YOUR NEEDS www.universalshopequipment.co.uk Tel: 0151 546 4525 (Showroom) EXPORT

Producing greeting cards for over 30 years

PRODUCTIONS

01622 710 759 www.offsetproductions.co.uk

188 Forstal Road • Aylesford • Kent ME20 7DB

(London) FLITTERING

The Capitals only Greetings card printer

FOR ALL YOUR FLITTER REQUIREMENTS

ABL Foil Ltd Unit 1, Industrial Estate East Hanningfield Chelmsford Essex, CM3 8AB

Contact DAVID JIGGINS Tel: 01245 400104 Email: david@abl-ltd.co.uk

To appear in

simply call Warren Lomax on: 0207 700 6740 or alternatively email him on warren@max-publishing.co.uk 92

PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

at PJ Print we pride ourselves on great customer care, and the greeting cards we make are pretty smart too.

For Award winning Print look no further than

PJ - PRINT E-mail: sales@pj-print.co.uk The Print Works Colville Road, Acton London W3 8BL tel 020 8993 5160 fax 020 8992 8421 www.pj-print.co.uk

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PRINTERS

Do you find you need to quickly top up your popular stock lines, or would like to trial a few designs before committing to longer runs? Then the Windles Group FlexiSheet is perfect for you. With a turnaround time of just 5 days and 1,000 cards at litho rates, the Windles Group once again delivers useful solutions to you.

In order to support our other production methods, we are also now offering the FlexiSheet with our integrated ColdFoil, allowing you to develop a highly creative range of greetings cards.

Specialist UK and Global manufacturer for the greeting card industry To discuss how we could work with you contact Simon King Tel: 0115 928 7766 Email: sales@sherwoodgroupuk.com

www.sherwoodgroupuk.com

PEFC / 16-33-794

Hadden Court, Glaisdale Parkway, Glaisdale Drive West, Nottingham, NG8 4GP

The home of greeting cards

To appear in

simply call Warren Lomax on: 0207 700 6740

t ependen ding ind a le r ’s e r K u The U n ufa c t card ma greeting Y j_ed

hZ fheZk [j_d] YW ki ed ]h[ Y \e b _W Y [i If[ i[ i[hl_Y \ _d#^ek e [ ] d W h <kbb [Z ]kWhWdj[ GkWb_jo [i Y h_ f j_j_l[ 9ecf[ h[b_WXb[ Z d W _edWb Fhe\[ii Wbb [h jee ic Y j_ed$ De ehZ ij fheZk h W Z < ;W d W A K 8ej^ services, ur unique 1150 ation on o rm 14 fo in 01 250 For more s team on le sa e th ntact please co eys.co.uk sales@loxl or email:

or alternatively email him on warren@maxpublishing.co.uk

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PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

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WAREHOUSING & DISTRIBUTION

YOUR MANUFACTURING PARTNER FOR VALUE ADDED PRODUCTS

The Professional and Caring Approach..

English speaking production team, prices quoted in sterling... and only 3 days delivery to THE UK...

Really... and there s no VAT to pay or customs procedures either...that's a great deal!

• Hand made and hand finished greeting cards • Boxed sets and acetate packs of cards / envelopes • Giftwrap and tag packs • Individually open and closed wrapped cards • 'Pop up' and cardboard engineered products • Notelets and social stationery • Specialised printing on plastics & lenticular For production enquiries, estimates etc., please contact our UK Agent:

Rob Pearson 07710 132 232 rob@solutions-polska.com

... to 3rd Party Warehouse, Distribution and Hand Finishing needs.

With over 25 years experience in the Greeting Card and Gift Industry, we specialise in providing a very fast yet efficient and friendly service to all of our customers.

Our close links to the port of Felixstowe allowing excellent access for both UK and overseas business.

We would be happy to talk to you and provide further information please contact either: James Smithies on 01449 778360 e: james@setinhand.com Tracy Davies on 01449 778363 e: tracy@setinhand.com Please visit our website at www.setinhand.com for further information.

Your Success Is Our Success

FSC accredited (BV-COC-002485). Audited member of SMETA. Printing to ISO12674-2 standard.

LB Warehousing (Women in Transport & Logistics Finalist)

Digital Di it l P Print i tS Specialist i li t for the greeting card industry What we offer:

S AME DAY order turnaround A CCURATE fulfilment and same day turn round V ALUE ADDED only as you sell the product E XCLUSIVELY Greeting Cards D EDICATED Account Managers

• Greeting cards • Artworking and design • Short-run print • Pick, pack and distribution • Promotional items • Bespoke gifts • Marketing literature • Exhibition graphics • Stationery • Brochures • and more...

With an excellent reputation we work as an integral part of your TEAM bringing much more than fulfilment.

Our costing structure is SIMPLE and TRANSPARENT. We carry out ALL aspects of hand finishing and assembly and provide whatever ADDITIONAL services YOU need Our select team of outworkers carefully hand wrap any size or format of cards urgently, OVERNIGHT! We CARE about your product as much as you do. Attention to detail, QC Issues and IT supported by a comprehensive paper trail for all stock movements are our hallmarks.

Our CAN DO approach means that WE solve your problems.

Outsourcing your warehousing operation releases your time to CREATE/MARKET/SELL/ MANAGE/GROW THE BUSINESS

07974 133735 paul.watson@sherwoodgroupuk.com

YOUR BUSINESS IS OUR BUSINESS, please visit our web site and see what OUR customers say, then to find out more call Lynda Raymond and perhaps we can arrange to meet and discuss your needs I am sure that we can help.

LB Warehousing, Units 1, 2 &3 Wayside Warehouses, Toseland, Near St. Neots, Cambridgeshire. PE19 6RX Tel 01480 880800 Fax 01480880900 Mobile 07889 399341 lynda@lb-warehousing.co.uk

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WIRE SPINNERS

BAGS

Tel: 01929 550085 Email: sales@westminsterwire.com Web: www.westminsterwire.com

Home of the Wire Spinner Stand

The Wire Spinner is proven to be the most cost effective method to display and enhance products.

We also offer sheet metal, wood, acrylic and cardboard solutions or a combination of materials.

To appear in Progressive Greetings simply call Warren Lomax on: 0207 700 6740 or alternatively email him on warren@max-publishing.co.uk

APPOINTMENTS

A PUBLISHER’S LAMENT (Sung to the tune of Where Have all the Flowers Gone)

Where have all the agents gone, long time passing Where have all the agents gone, long time ago Where have all the agents gone Some other buggers had them, every-one When will we ever find When will we ev-er find

SOME DAMN GOOD AGENTS?!?!?!

Saffron has now been trading for nearly two years and we have found many fabulous and loyal customers in that time – but we still need more!

We have some really great ranges – check out our website at www.saffroncards.co.uk - (and some great reps and agents in some areas too).

We pay generous commissions – on time, every month. We offer great support with regular product launches throughout the year, produce flyers for every new range, have lots of seasonal promotions and a great back office team. You name it – we try and do it for you!

Yet there are some territories where we just can’t find a “Good Agent”.

What is a ‘Good Agent’? One who sends in regular orders, communicates clearly and regularly, has a cheerful disposition, who wants to support us at trade shows and has lots of happy customers (and who doesn’t carry so many agencies that he/she cannot possibly do justice to all of them!).

Shouldn’t be difficult should it?

If you are an active agent looking for a really great card company to add to your portfolio – please look at our website, and if you feel you could successfully carry our line (and keep us from further ‘lamenting’) then we are looking for agents in...

the whole of the UK excluding NW Eng, N Wales and Scotland Then please contact Viv Barlow with details of your current agencies and the territory you currently cover at viv@saffroncards.co.uk with a covering note telling us about you and why you’re the right agent for us!

PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

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