Talking Shop Paul Carpenter - Totally Toys, Bristol
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023 was a rocky, bumpy road – one day good and the next bad, but overall we managed to improve on sales from 2019. In November, the Christmas rush began which was great. Kids will always be looked after at Christmas, and toys are one of the last things to be affected when money is tight. People were looking for classic toys and things that would last, often going for trusted brands such as Lego and Meccano. We saw terrific sales from Ty plush, in particular the new Squish A Boos. We do great business with Ty and the team is a pleasure to deal with – when we place an order, it arrives two days later. Eugy from Brainstorm is also a top range for us. We stock the entire collection; not only are they a perfect arts & crafts activity, which is a sector that always does well for us, but the range doubles up as a collectible which keeps people coming back for more. Other arts & crafts lines that stand out include Tomy’s Hey Clay and DKB’s Air Clay. Board games seem to have been rediscovered. The traditional big box ranges that cost more have declined in sales but £10 games – things like travel games and card games - are making up a lot of the lost ground. Asmodee’s Dobble has been in high demand, and quirky games like Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza from Big Potato have also been popular. I’m not sure the £30-£40 board games which are only played on Christmas and Boxing Day are something people are prepared to invest in anymore. Nowadays, they just want something fun to play with the family all year round. The simpler the better, and if it can be played on the go or easily taken to a friend’s house,
that’s a plus. Since the pandemic, we’ve been having absolutely incredible Christmases. We’ve been comparing each year with 2019 as that was a pretty uneventful year (other than the small matter of Brexit). After the Covid lockdowns, customers have been so excited and enthusiastic that sales rose dramatically. Even taking inflation into account, Christmas sales have been higher. The average spend throughout 2023 was 5-8% down from the previous year, and people were spending more on toys for events and celebrations rather than impulse
buys. We expect things to be much slower this month and could really do with a new craze right about now. Thank goodness for Lego – there’s always something new and always something that people want. It’s nice to have new stock post-Christmas and Lego always has plenty to offer. I’m looking forward to the year ahead. Independents aren’t going anywhere; if there’s one thing we’ve learnt, it’s that we’re really good at adapting and reinventing ourselves, even during times of adversity. We can get products on our shelves quickly when we find something new that customers want. Bring on 2024!
Tim Evans - Toys & Games of Worcester
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e had a bumper Christmas, and I think this was because of our strong 2023 line-up. Disney Lorcana has been extremely successful since its release, and the huge demand for it at
Christmas meant we had to secure as much stock as we could. In fact all of our trading card games like Pokémon and Yu-Gi-Oh! were very successful last year too. We secured an exclusive Worcester version of Monopoly which had fantastic pre-orders in November and gave
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sales a great lift for Christmas. A new range for us last year was Cobi, which really boosted sales. We’ve stocked all sorts of Lego for years but that doesn’t touch the military category. Airfix military planes are hugely popular, so Cobi’s military construction products seemed like the perfect brand to bring in. The range sits nicely between the two and has performed really well. It’s nice to introduce a brand-new range that doesn’t cannibalise sales elsewhere. We had a really strong year overall, but the Christmas rush seems to be coming later and later. The week before Christmas and the two weeks after represent the most important period to be on top form and fully focused. It’s not until the kids go back to school that things quieten down. Late December and early January is our golden period. Sales have been strong in every area of the shop, which we’re really pleased about. Often, there are one or two quiet categories but last year, there wasn’t an area which wasn’t working. Hot Wheels sales have been strong all year, and another ‘low-profile’ line we’ve been really pleased with was Smart Games’ fidget-type box puzzles such as IQ Puzzler. Those have been selling well as they’re low cost, take up no space, work the brain and get people off their phones. We had quite major disruption to footfall last year when a nearby building collapsed and had to be covered with scaffolding. But once that was taken down in May, sales picked up again and remained encouraging for the rest of the year. We’ve focused on keeping our social media presence strong, to help us connect with customers and stimulate sales. Overall, we’re pleased with how things are going.
