Talking Shop

The toys of summer

With the summer season in full swing, indie retailers share what they are stocking currently, what’s selling and how they make sure that products catch customers’ eyes in store.

Troy Turner - Kids Stuff Toys, Bognor Regis

The summer period has been excellent so far; the sunny weather has had a positive impact and we’ve seen numerous sales across our offering of outdoor products, especially paddling pools and water pistols - Zuru’s X-Shot is one of the ranges that has been performing very well this summer. However, despite what some people may believe, being based at the seaside can have its downside; we often don’t have as much footfall during really hot days, as everyone will be down at the beach or in the parks making the most of the sunshine.

Our licensed lines always perform well as there is a cinema just up the road which we collaborate with; we put up a poster to encourage people to watch the latest movies, and they display a poster for us to encourage cinema goers to visit our store to find toys based on current films. This has proved to be a successful way to attract customers, as we often get families coming in still holding their box of popcorn. We’re just about to receive a delivery of Superman toys which I expect to be popular, with all the buzz surrounding the movie’s release. Lilo & Stitch, Jurassic World and How to Train Your Dragon are all licences that have been selling brilliantly so far this year; the movies have really helped to boost toy sales.

Squishmallows’ Stitch line has been a big hit. Out of eight Kids Stuff Toys stores, our shop leads the chain in sales of Squishmallows products, and Stitch has built on the success of licensed Squishmallows like Beetlejuice, Nightmare Before Christmas, Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings.

Lego always performs well too, with ranges including Speed Champions’ F1 cars, Star Wars, Lego Fortnite, Lego Creator and Lego Botanical enjoying phenomenal sales. Although Lego’s Minecraft range has always been a strong seller, the movie helped increase sales even more. Lego’s 2 Fast 2 Furious range is also in high demand right now.

All Pokémon products sell well, including toys and plush, but the Pokémon TCG is by far the best-selling range; we literally cannot keep it in stock as fans come and grab it as soon as it arrives. Hot Wheels cars have also been very successful, especially the Fast and Furious range; this too sells out very quickly when it comes into stock.

Other popular categories right now include role-play toys such as wooden fruits and vegetables, and sensory toys like squishies. Fidget spinners seems to be a resurgent trend, too. I hadn’t seen many of them for a couple of years, but we decided to reintroduce them to our range recently, and they have proved popular. Toys and figurines/action figures inspired by internet trends such as Skibidi Toilet, Box Fruits and Five Nights at Freddy’s are all proving successful, and our Funko range remains popular with customers.

We change our window displays around every month to keep things fresh and exciting; for example, last month’s displays featured popular characters including Barney, Dora, Bluey and Peppa Pig. We update our Facebook page five to six times per week to keep our customers informed about the latest launches and products in stock. We are quite limited in what we can change inside the store, as we cannot easily dismantle our shelves. Nevertheless, we alter the layout from time to time to highlight different ranges and any products on special offer, to give our customers alternatives depending on their budgets.

Although we haven’t started planning for Q4 yet, as we like to make the most of the summer season, our customers look forward to us releasing the Lego advent calendars on 1st September, as soon as they are available. I’m also really looking forward to August and September’s Lego launches, as they will go on our shelves for the Christmas period.  So, there’s a bit of crossover before we start the run up to Christmas in earnest.

Julie Logan - The Olive Branch, Castle Donington

Wow, it’s been hot. The weather has certainly helped sales, but we’ve also had a high number of events in and around our village location in Castle Donington: Download Festival, Classic Vehicles, Open Gardens etc, which have brought locals and visitors alike into our shop. Footfall and sales continue to be incredibly unpredictable but, generally, both are up on the same period last year which gives us some optimism going into the summer.

We have seen an increase in the popularity of licensed characters and have diversified and expanded our collection, although we prefer evergreen properties to shorter-term, movie-based characters. We are looking at the new F1 Hot Wheels collection and growing our Pokémon ranges due to an increase in demand. The introduction of ranges like these has both brought in new customers - and helps us to retain existing ones for a little longer.

Many of our top-selling products are in Sensory Toys. Fidget toys continue to be extremely popular, with new favourites coming in all the time. Crazy Aaron’s Thinking Putty Tins are sought after for pocket money buys and for gifting. We love the new tins, especially BFF with charms to make bracelets and the new Liquid Glass tins; both are amazing.

Over the years at The Olive Branch, we have established a reputation for high quality, timeless and traditional wooden toys and classic gifts, especially for babies and pre-school children. Whilst customers still seek us out for items like this, they are also looking for popular brands and licensed character items for older children. We have been working hard to develop our offering to reflect this: keeping the best of our timeless toys whilst also making room for more modern favourites with wider appeal for older children. To this end, we’ve added Pokémon, Lego, Plus-Plus and much more. As well as adding new lines, we keep things fresh by frequently changing the displays in the store and moving them around.

We are already planning for Q4 to ensure that we have good stock levels of sought after items that sell very quickly in the run up to Christmas, before it becomes increasingly difficult to get hold of them. We are always keeping our eyes peeled for new lines to complement our existing collection; the recent Toymaster Show in Harrogate was a brilliant opportunity to meet new and existing suppliers, and we are looking forward to Autumn Fair in Birmingham.

We always love the build up to Christmas. It’s a busy time with plenty going on, including local events like the Annual Christmas Cheer and Village Light Switch On. We’ll have stalls at various local events which all adds to that special buzz at this time of year. Due to our particular location nestled on the edge of Leicestershire, Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire, we are ideally placed to attend lots of markets and events on our doorstep to extend the reach of our little toy shop. We’ve recently visited the newly redeveloped Derby Market Hall too.

We have been focused on continued growth on social media. We try not to miss any opportunity to shout about everything going on in our shop and in our fantastic village. We count ourselves extremely lucky to be part of a brilliant community and shopping street, filled with small independents all working together to promote Castle Donington. We love to lend a hand wherever we can as we can all achieve more when we work together.

We are excited to see how our newer ranges will be received and will continue to diversify our stock accordingly, reacting to what our customers enjoy. We are delighted that our beautiful shop is becoming more and more well-known, and business seems to be picking up accordingly.

Jo Webster-Green - Bristol Favours Little Treasures, Bristol

Based in the suburbs of Bristol, our store predominantly stocks toys made from sustainable materials, including wood, organic cotton or rubber. Our target market consists of children up to 10 years old. Lines such as role-play fruits and vegetables and pull-along toys are very popular and, while wooden toys for little ones are found in the centre of the store, the outside edges are dedicated to older children and mainly feature products such as craft kits and board games.

We find that our focus on wooden toys is incredibly popular; we’ve become known for it in the area and often get customers coming in for wooden toys specifically. While I think that parents’ purchasing decisions are partly influenced by environmental factors, they also find that wooden toys offer excellent value for money, as they tend to last longer and can therefore be passed on to other family members. Wooden toys also hold their value, which means that they can be resold after use if the family no longer needs them. I think consumers nowadays consider these things when purchasing a product.

I work with multiple brands, including Cubika, Lanka Kade and Classic World (distributed by Hippychick), which are all selling very well. These brands support the people who manufacture their products, and all feature stunning toys made with environmentally friendly materials, something our customers appreciate. I started stocking Cubika last year, and my decision was influenced by the fact that its toys are made in Ukraine. I was very pleased to be able to do something that would help the Ukrainians, and the toys are beautiful and sell out very quickly.

We also offer a wide selection of pocket money toys, all priced at a maximum of £5. This is to encourage kids to save their pennies and money from the tooth fairy to spend on affordable treats. Some of the most popular lines we carry include squishies - squishy slugs are selling well at the moment - as well as high-quality wooden yo-yos. Whoopee cushions are a favourite; during the Christmas season, I always make sure I have plenty of those in stock.

Away from the traditional lines, we were the first and only toy shop in Bristol to stock the Toniebox for the first eighteen months of its release in the UK. The range has gained traction and is selling well; it’s a well-designed, sturdy product that holds up to rough play.

We celebrated the 10th anniversary of our shop last month, which felt like a huge milestone in this current climate. It feels surreal that the children who would come to my store when I first opened now have children of their own, who are already growing out of the toys we stock. The community spirit in this region is very strong, and I’m fortunate to have a loyal clientele and lots of local support; I even have customers who have moved far away who still come back to do their Christmas shopping, as they know they’ll find good stocking fillers.

To celebrate the occasion, we held free raffles which everyone enjoyed. I also handed out a gift voucher to the 10th customer of the day, and there were giveaways for the children, including blow-up headbands with animal faces on them and pinwheels. We decorated the shop; a very talented local artist made us a peep board of a blue monster holding a birthday cake and other posters which were original and creative. With the peep board at the front of the store, so that children could have their photos taken, and a 10th anniversary banner and decorations, it was all very jolly.

I place a lot of focus on our display windows, which I change regularly throughout the year. There are two big windows at the sides of the shop, which I decorate with creative, handmade displays to showcase products, as well as amuse the children. These are very successful, as the children like to come and see what the latest weird, wonderful tableau is. Christmas brings an exciting opportunity to get really creative and create something magical that will delight everyone, so I’m looking forward to the festive season arriving. Before then, I've got a new display coming up featuring flowers and insects. Currently, one of the windows features flamingos, while the other is full of monkeys flying kites. It’s nice to see them raise a smile.