Toy World recently spoke to a selection of toy retailers who demonstrated resilience during a challenging 2022 in order to grow their businesses.
We all know the second half of 2022 was difficult. And we all know that no matter what, if there’s one industry that can ride out pretty much anything, it’s the toy trade. Indeed, at a time when businesses could be largely forgiven for rolling over and playing dead, we’ve seen a number of retailers up their game – or start playing for the first time – in what was generally thought of as a Very Difficult Year.
In an effort to counteract the ‘doom & gloom’, (if we had a pound for every time we heard that phrase towards the back end of last year…), Toy World spoke to some of these retailers, among them Rachael Sankey of Harold’s Toy Store, who entered toy retail for the first time last year, along with her husband, William – despite having no prior retail experience. They say they’ve never doubted their decision, despite the fact the turbulent marketplace has made getting hold of some key lines a challenge.
Rachael told us: “As I am sure everyone reading this knows, some companies have stopped taking on new accounts due to supply issues, and although entirely understandable, this has impacted us. Pokémon is a very important range for us but can be difficult to track down. Ironically, that’s the nature of the game itself. At least we can laugh about it.”
Fellow independent toy retailer David Middleton, meanwhile, moved his second store into much larger premises in its long-term home in the Derbion Centre in May 2022, and his third location – Midco Freak Treats – is slated to open this month. The new store focuses primarily on the market for the older kid/adult/kidult toys and collectibles market. As such, the store will place a major emphasis on Funko and Loungefly products, anime and manga, and film and TV properties.
September and October 2022 saw SMF Toytown open new stores in Perth and Coventry respectively. The openings bring SMF’s portfolio to a little over 30, but as managing director Alan Simpson explains, it’s all about maintaining a balance. Shuttering four underperforming stores that had reached a natural break in their contracts actually meant the overall number of Toytown locations was reduced, an approach that maintains the strength and success of the retailer’s business by ‘taking away at the bottom and adding on at the top’. Alan adds: “The two new stores have been performing really well so far, and we’re planning on opening another four or five in 2023.”
BargainMax also has big plans for 2023: having recently completed a move to new warehousing facilities, the online toy retailer is launching its highly anticipated new website this month.
“In order to be successful in this industry, we have to be technologically ahead of the curve,” Alex tells us. “We want to have the fastest, most user-friendly and simple website in the entire toy trade, so our new site is built to offer some truly phenomenal speeds. We’re hugely excited for the launch of the new site and really feel it will be one of the most impressive pieces of tech the trade has ever seen.”
To find out what else toy retailers got up to last year and their plans for 2023, read the full, exclusive article published in the bumper January issue of Toy World here.
