Indie viewpoint

Plenty to talk about

WWhere is this year going? As we write this, we can’t believe it’s only five weeks until we travel up to Harrogate once again for the Toymaster show. But more on that later. First, there’s the allimportant Easter holidays trading period to get through – and half way through, good weather has been quite encouraging for sales. The Toy Barnhaus satellite is predicting rain for the second week, and a wet Good Friday, but that should mean decent sales for us in our shopping centres. Mark has his fingers crossed for a dry Easter Sunday though, for his mandatory Easter barbecue.

Sales for last month have been very encouraging. Footfall was helped by Pokémon, with the new Journey Together release selling out in only a few days. A new craze that has recently hit is 3D Sculptured Dragons (One for Fun), which is another TikTok trend – and driving purchases at an affordable price point. The new Minecraft Movie toys have really shown an uplift since the film came out and the Lego F1 range continues to sell well now the F1 season is in full swing. For the first time in a couple of years, it does feel like there is a bit of a buzz in the market, with several different things to talk about. We are also very excited about the live action Stitch movie later this month, which is certain to increase demand for an already very popular character. Then we’ve got How To Train Your Dragon coming up - there is certainly a lot to look forward to this summer.

Girls’ collectibles is a solid category for us, and there is quite a bit to get after at the moment. L.O.L! Surprise and Miniverse from MGA are still really popular, with plenty of new releases. Zuru has really expanded in this category, and My Mini Babies, the 5 Surprise Axolotls and the Max Retro capsules in particular are all selling extremely well. Littlest Pet Shop (from Bandai) has had a resurgence since its relaunch 18 months ago, and we’ve just received the Mama Surprise collectibles from Moose Toys, which looks a well-priced range which should sell well.

We have been a Toymaster member for 15 years now, and it has been great for our business. With access to around 300 suppliers immediately, plus the credit terms and invoicing, being a member does make it easy to find new products. The main Toymaster show - and the two regionals - provide three excellent opportunities to see suppliers and meet up with other members. The marketing opportunities including the catalogue and the window displays, are incredibly useful – and the good thing is you can pick and choose which bits you want to use, based on your business.

We can’t wait for the aforementioned Toymaster show. As ever, we’ve got everything organised early; our rooms are booked, and our evening meals are all planned out. Now I suppose we had better make some appointments! In all seriousness, this is our favourite show, it’s so fantastic to have 100 suppliers all under one roof. It will be our 15th year attending, and the Toymaster team never fails to impress us with the great job it does organising everything. They listen to the members too; for example, in one area of great importance, Mark credits himself with the decision to move serving the bacon rolls forward to 12pm in the evening. It is a key buying show for us, where we will start some of our Xmas buying. We’re looking forward to seeing final versions of products which may not have been fully ready at London Toy Fair. See you in Harrogate!