Charlotte Croser of Jollys Toys contributed a lively, entertaining, happy and fun account of a positive run of sales in her shop for our December issue. To cap it off, and since the magazine went to press, she’s told us: “The good news is that October AND November were really good here so I am chuffed to bits. And Father Christmas is needing my elf-ssistance double time at the mo!”
Go on, get festive with that coffee of yours – we know you’ll love this one.
It feels as though Christmas has come earlier this year at Jollys and that the patterns we were accustomed to a few years ago are playing out. Pay day hit at the end of September and that sweet end-of-the-month uplift in footfall and spending just kept going throughout October, which ended up very strong for us. In fact the strongest October we’ve ever had.
As I write this in week three of November, it’s not quite the same story. It has been very up and down so far, with some crazy busy days as though Christmas Day is next week, and others more like Christmas was last week and no one is about.
Let’s stay bright and cheery though. On the good days, the tills are alive with the sound of dinging, ringing and me singing from the rooftops. I love my job, I love the customers and I wonder what I was worried about last week when things were quiet. If there was ever a job with extreme highs and extreme lows…
I’m pleased to hear customers are talking about Christmas in a positive way, enjoying shopping for gifts and acting on choices by handing the money over there and then, rather than dragging their heels and not committing to a purchase as I felt so many did last year.
“When Tonies runs a discount deal on its own website, us retailers are given the opportunity to match it”
What are they buying? Jellycat and Tonies are top of the pops, which continues the trend from this year. By golly I‘m pleased to have these brands in my armory! Also popular is the Zimpli range of Gelli Play, Baff Bombs, and particularly Crackle Baff. In my last column I was pondering my first order of this range, and I’m pleased that I went for it. In a retail climate where us indies increasingly have to compete with charity shops and the likes of Vinted, it’s a bonus when you can sell consumable ‘experience’ gifts like this that don’t make to to the-second hand market.
Back to Tonies – all hail this supplier that supports indies so well. When Tonies runs a discount deal on its own website, us retailers are given the opportunity to match it, and Tonies covers the reduction in margin by crediting our account. It’s also a brand that maintains consistent pricing across the retailers, which means us indies can more easily compete.
It is one of the reasons that I have delight in stocking this brand. I feel motivated to sell it because I know that I can match online prices without damaging my profits. I actively explain this to my customers and they love it. They love that they can get the best price from their local indie toy shop and I am not ashamed to ask them kindly to buy from me rather than the big names.
I am still actively ordering stock at this point in the year, and I’ll continue to do so until well into December as long as the customers keep coming! Jollys is a very small store (136 square feet) so a ‘just-in-time’ approach is how I go about buying at all times of year, especially Q4. I have a good idea through Q3 as to what I’d like to buy based on what has gone well through the year. I action those orders as and when the space is available on the shelves, and the money is flowing into the till.
Even now I’m still spending hours upon hours researching what else to order and fill the shelves with. I listen to what customers are talking about, I see trends in purchases being made and critique our range constantly. If I’m asked by a customer to show them what I have for a certain age group in a certain theme and I feel we are lacking in choice, I log it in my mind and scribble notes as soon as I’ve completed their sale and said goodbye. One of the things I love about my job is this kind of problem solving and my determination to plug those gaps with more wonderful stock.
Good places to plug these gaps are suppliers that accept small, top-up orders for around £100-150. A rare breed is some publishers that will send you a single book and not charge carriage if you are canny about which supplier you choose. Abrams & Chronicle, GBS and Quarto all fall into this camp. I also use Bigjigs Toys and NDA Toys a lot throughout the year and every week or two through Q4. Thank you to them both for being fabulous; low, carriage paid orders, a wide choice of brands and categories as well as superbly quick turnaround has me sold.
It does mean that I am working pretty much round the clock at this time of year. I’m either in the shop or thinking about the shop and my laptop is almost permanently on my lap of an evening. I was out for a dinner with a friend the other night and found myself recalling out loud to her all the jobs I had done that day and what I had to do the next day – like some kind of robot chanting a to-do list and patting itself on the back while simultaneously chivvying itself along for the next round of to-dos. She is the most lovely, patient friend – but come on Charlotte eat your burger and find something more exciting to talk about before she loses the will!
Alongside selling and ordering, I’ve been doing lots of Christmassy promos on social media, launching our Food Bank Secret Santa scheme and seeking out as many PR opportunities as possible. For a few years now I have worked with our district council (North Northamptonshire) which runs a great initiative called ‘Hi Street’. It was borne out of a post-Covid project to get residents back out spending again, and thankfully it has continued. This is the second year that Jollys has featured in a Christmas advert for the region and we had a great time last week filming – see here the photo of me and the star of the ad Jasmina along with the Jollys teddy that also features.
This Q4 feels like it matters more than any other in the 12 years that Jollys has been trading. It needs to pay its way – and pay for three very sluggish predecessors. To be frank, it needs to restore my motivation and energy to embark on a new year too.
How do I feel about 2025 right now? Not great, but I *want* to feel good about it. I’m expecting further price rises early in the new year. I don’t want them to, but I am bracing myself for more suppliers announcing that they are increasing their minimum order values. I expect continued competition from online stores as well as our own suppliers as they seem determined to sell direct to our customers. And we all know we’re going to face increased staff costs and business rate increases.
I think I’ll be going to Toy Fair, but honestly I’m not 100% sure at the moment. The cost to get there and stay over to make it worthwhile going is not insignificant for a small business like mine. Every little decision has to be well thought through at the moment, and that will continue into next year I am sure. ‘Watch the pennies and the pounds will look after themselves’ is a good mantra to live by.
There’s nothing we indies can do to control external factors, but what we can do is vote with our feet and support the suppliers that support us. We can continue to offer the kind of service that delights our customers, that sets us apart from the chains and that is impossible to offer as an online giant. Free gift-wrapping, expert knowledge and advice, as well as that magical experience of walking into a shop filled with colour and wonder – and a friendly, smiling assistant waiting to help. Knowing their children’s names, asking after that family member who has been unwell and offering to deliver to their house later on when you can see they are weighed down with shopping and toddlers. Make shopping joyful, exceed expectations in the most personal of ways and make a difference.
I hope that the rest of this season will go well for Jollys and for all the indies out there, and that we all do well enough to feather our nests for the year ahead.
