Independent bricks and mortar toy shops received a welcome boost after a major newspaper feature looked at the state of the business at retail.
And, as the article in The Guardian noted, for indie toy and game retailers, “ the story is less doom and gloom, more boom”.
The newspaper coverage – Click here for full story – focused on Dawn Burden’s My Small World store in Bath in the west country, as well as featuring further comment from Toy Retailers Association chairman Alan Simpson.
“Last year was My Small World’s busiest ever. By November, sales were back to where they were before Covid. Now, month on month, they are pre-pandemic plus 24%”
Writer Sam Woolaston not only highlighted industry-wide figures – January to June sales up 44% and 13% within the second quarter alone compared with 2021 – but also My Small World’s own impressive growth. The feature stated: “Last year was My Small World’s busiest ever. By November, sales were back to where they were before Covid. Now, month on month, they are pre-pandemic plus 24%. Even taking into account higher-than-average inflation, that is doing well. I’m not a financial journalist but I believe the technical term is ker-ching.”
The article praised physical retailing over online when it came to toys too, quoting Simpson as saying: “You remember being brought into a toy shop when you were a child – it’s a magical experience children remember for the rest of their lives.”
And as well as interviewing customers in Burden’s shop, it also quoted the store owner herself, who concluded: “The difference between toys and most retailers is that Santa comes at Christmas time, and parents push the boat out to try to make sure there’s a good Christmas for the kids.”
