Talking Shop

Talking Shop Full of the toys of spring

Toy World’s Sam Giltrow chats to a selection of indies to find out how Easter sales held up this year, what’s selling right now and what they are tipping for success over the summer months.

Rachael Sankey - Harold’s Toy Store, Church Stretton

We have just celebrated our first birthday which I can’t quite believe, as the time has just flown by. Overall, we have been very pleased with how everything has gone.

Everyone coming into the shop has been so positive and supportive and although it’s been a lot of fun and much easier than we thought it would be, it has also been a huge learning curve at times, especially working out what to stock and what our customers want. We have stuck to being a more traditional toy shop rather than focusing on new fads and trends, as we like to sell toys that have longevity, and that people can pass down.

The Easter holidays have been incredibly busymuch busier than last year when we first opened. I guess word has now got round that we are here. It helps that Church Stretton itself seems to be attracting a lot more visitors who are spending money and not just browsing, so hopefully things have loosened up a little bit, financially. We get a lot of returning customers and people who have travelled from further afield. We’ve been doing a fair bit of marketing and are also on Facebook, to let people know what we do and where to find us, and this seems to have paid off.

Lego is our biggest seller – both currently and in our whole first year of trading. Lego Technic is extremely popular and is bought by adults as well as kids, so it brings a different demographic into the shop. Lego Minecraft is a favourite among the kids; it really lends itself well to Lego, because it’s so similar visually, just in digital form. The Lego Botanicals range also performs strongly for us – we’ve recently had a lot of the Bonsai trees in, and they all sold out very quickly.

Pokémon is also still incredibly popular and Nerf guns have also been big sellers for us. It’s all the same toys that our boys used to like; there are some things that people will always want.

We have just taken on a nice range from Denmark – Maileg – which offers cute plush mice and rabbits, which people like to collect. We have a couple of large toy retailers not far away, so it’s good for us to be able to offer something different. We also stock a wide range of wooden toys, including Hippychick and Brio, which always go down well.

We are looking forward to the summer and are expecting it to be a lot busier than last year. Church Stretton enjoys a steady tourist trade, and the town

is getting more and more popular, especially since the pandemic when the press was telling people it was a great place to visit, so it’s turned out to be a great location. Now, practically the whole of the West Midlands comes here, which is fantastic for us and all the other shops in the town.

In terms of our plans for the year ahead, we will be looking at acquiring more space as the premises we are in is becoming very cramped now. I’d like to be able to offer a much wider range of stock, but we don’t want to stray too far from this location, which is working so well. One area we’re looking to expand is arts & crafts – we already sell a great range of Galt products, but I’d love to be in a position to expand this category, as it’s so popular. We are currently keeping our eyes out for larger premises coming up in the town, so watch this space.

There seem to be a lot more independent shops popping up everywhere you go, and I would encourage anyone thinking about opening a toy shop to do it if they are in the right area. I would advise them to sell the things they love and not worry about trends - unless that's what they love! It’s fun running a toy shop and it’s a lovely industry to be in.

Karen Sasse - J & J Wilson Toymaster, Bude

WWe are in a prime tourist location, so Easter was fairly busy for us, but not as much as it usually is. Customers certainly haven’t stopped spending, but they don’t seem to be spending as much as the previous year. Whether that has something to do with the current economy, I don’t know.

As usual, Lego has been selling well, particularly the Star Wars and Marvel sets. We have also seen strong sales from L.O.L. Surprise! dolls, especially all the new lines that have been brought out recently, and Bratz dolls are also selling well. Where larger dolls are concerned, I have increased my order quantity of Tiny Tears from John Adams - the brand has had a spruce up which has gone down really well with customers, and we now selling a lot more than we used to.

Games are a massive category for us because we are in such a tourist hotspot. It’s all about making sure we have the right games in for the right people. Visiting families like to buy smaller games which they can take back to their campsites and holiday homes. The range from VR Distribution sells particularly well, especially games such as Cards Against Humanity, which is compact as well as being great fun. Games such as Sequence from Goliath Games, which the whole family can play together, are also in high demand. Our most popular game is Uno, and I order hundreds in at a time. It has

been the best-selling game throughout the 10 years that I have been ordering, and now Mattel has brought out different versions which have added to the appeal.

Customers still can’t get enough of Pokémon, and I have a large selection of toys and cards which I know will continue to be guaranteed sellers. Its popularity doesn’t seem to show any signs of waning.

Traditionally, we have also seen very strong sales in jigsaw puzzles. Recently a large retailer moved into the town, and this has affected our sales as they can sell puzzles at prices which sadly we can’t compete with. As a result, I now need to re-assess which suppliers I order from and find lines where we can maintain our margins. This means I’ll have to stop ordering certain lines that we’ve done well with in the past, which is a shame, but we have to take action when we can’t compete on price. We have ordered a lot of stock for the summer already, but I will be analysing the Easter sales to see where we need to replenish. I have been more cautious in my ordering this year and I’m not going as wild as I usually do. I think we all feel the same; everyone is being more careful with their spending. Fortunately, we don’t stock a lot of high-ticket items – apart from some of the bigger Lego sets – so this will help us mitigate any slow sales later in the year.

There are a few big movie releases this summer and I have ordered product in for The Little Mermaid and Barbie, so I’m hoping they will do well.

I’m also excited about the return of the original Loom Bands from Bandai; all the stock we received recently sold out very quickly. I’m not sure it will quite be the huge craze that it was when Loom Bands first came out a few years ago, but its gaining in popularity again and I think it will be big this year.

I’m now quite considered about what I order, only ordering a relatively modest amount of anything new to begin with. Then if it goes well, I can always re-stock. But I should learn to trust my instincts, I haven’t made a mistake in my judgement yet! I rely so much on talking to my customers and hearing what they want. If they ask for, or even mention, something that I don’t have it or haven’t heard of, I will go away and look it up and learn about it. I also rely on my reps to recommend products, as they have tons of knowledge and experience, but ultimately, it’s the customers whose opinions matter and who I always try to keep happy.

It will be interesting to see how we do during the May half-term holidays. This is the next peak (we hope) in spending and gives us an idea of what July and August will be like. I am looking forward to a busy summer ahead and though Easter was a bit disappointing, we have done well overall so far this year and should hit all of our targets.

Dee Mellor - Salter Street Toys & Models, Stafford

We had a steady Easter that included a special offer on Playmobil which proved very popular. We are revising our Playmobil offering, so took the opportunity to move through a few lines that aren’t performing. Playmobil has introduced quite a few licensed ranges recently, and some have worked better than others, so it’s a question of establishing which ones our customers want. All of the generic Playmobil lines are still extremely popular though.

We have seen strong sales from licensed Lego, and the Speed Champions range sold well over the Easter holidays. Lego Botanicals has also been a successful range – I had one customer saying he had to buy the Orchid one as he’d killed his wife’s real plant! They are quite a high price point, but that is attracting different customers into the shop.

Customers have been looking for Super Mario toys, with the release of the new movie, and the plush we have had in from Sambro has been flying off the shelves. The new Turtles range from Character for the upcoming Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem film is already getting a lot of interest, particularly from older children who remember when the last film was out a few years ago.

Another line which is really gaining momentum is Eugy from Brainstorm. We started selling the range a while back but only had a limited selection; now we have stands to put it on and, together with window displays, the extra promotion is really working. The range is at an attractive price point and children like collecting all the different animals.

We are doing very well with smaller items at lower price points, including the little collectible Care Bears from Basic Fun. Customers are being more careful about their spending and so a £3 or £4 price point is ideal. We have ordered the new releases for Top Trumps, as they are always a good pickup line, and have a new Schleich stand in place for the new Harry Potter collection, which is coming out later in the year. I’m sure that will sell well and I’m quite excited about it arriving.

We still sell a lot of jigsaw puzzles – a trend that has continued since the pandemic – the Gibsons range is particularly popular with our customers. The company recently brought out a special edition Coronation puzzle, which we sold out of very quickly.

Although we have had a decent start to 2023, I’m not sure how the rest of the year will pan out and there’s a question mark as to what will happen over the summer. It depends whether people are going away or spending more time at home; the latter could work in our favour. We are being cautious and not ordering too much stock, as we don’t want it sitting on the shelves. Fingers crossed business stays the same as it is though, then we will be fine.

I am looking forward to attending the Toymaster Show and seeing what’s on offer. I haven’t got a shopping list as such, but I’m always on the lookout for something a bit different – I suppose everyone is.

Indie viewpoint

Mark Buschhaus and Stephen Barnes - Toy Barnhaus

Up, up and away!

As we write this, we can reflect on what can only be described as a good first quarter of the year. Given everything that has been going on, and the cost pressures everyone has been experiencing, trade has held up better than expected. Comparing year on year, the Easter weekend just gone has been a strong one, and we have benefited from the weather being a bit more unsettled. Last year it was very sunny throughout the Easter break, so fewer people chose to visit the shops. Looking around just before Easter, there seemed to be a lack of Easter eggs in the major supermarkets, so we probably also benefited from people buying toys instead.

We have recently taken in the new release of Pokémon Scarlet & Violet, and this has certainly helped our takings. Despite there being a price increase across the range for the first time in a few years, it doesn’t seem to have harmed sales, and the popularity of the Pokémon brand is as strong as ever. The re-release of Monster High Dolls has started strong, introducing a new wave of kids to the franchise.

There have been several new Lego lines that have performed extremely well – the Lego Up House, from the Disney film has been a flyer – if you’ll pardon the pun! It doesn’t seem to have been that widely available, so our stock has been sought after. The Lego Speed Champions Fast & Furious Nissan GT-R has also proved to be a winner, in the build up to another film due out this year.

Classic Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles has also been very popular, with kids and collectors alike looking forward to the film due out in the summer. We are expecting The Little Mermaid movie to do well and have a wide range of lines ordered for that. With the Super Mario film having just been released and been well received (with fans at least, if not critics), it does feel like films are becoming a key driver of purchases in stores again. Then there’s Disney 100, which is a key focus for Disney this year and has led to a lot of products coming out; of these, the Disney 100 Capsules from KAP Toys have been in high demand, and the imminent release of Lego’s Disney 100 Collectable Minifigures should ensure that the momentum continues.

Looking ahead, the Toymaster Show is just around the corner and is without doubt our favourite show of the year – it’s an event we look forward to for several months. Last year, after a gap of three years, there was something almost euphoric about going back, and with the Majestic Hotel fully refurbished, the event was better than ever. We had the fun of Mark hobbling round after he injured his foot, so hopefully this year we can get around a bit faster. The timing of the event is ideal for us, having done our research (which includes a good read of Toy World each month) on what has been selling so far this year, we come into the show ready to place substantial orders for the rest of the year, as well as seeing any new items that we didn’t see at Toy Fair. Suppliers know that members expect good deals at this show, and they tend to deliver.

However, as everyone knows, although a lot of good business gets done during the day, a great deal also gets done at the bar, sometimes at a very late hour. It really is a fantastic event at which to meet up with the rest of the independent toy trade and suppliers, and we can’t wait. It wouldn’t be our column if we didn’t mention the food; Harrogate has a fantastic range of bars and restaurants which we will also frequent. Of course, we will also go to the excellent evening events that Toymaster put on in the Majestic, and we look forward to seeing you all there.