Jollys Toys was among the casualties of a certain plush brand’s indie-pocalypse. But life can be sweeter when forced to do what indies do best and pivot, writes owner Charlotte Croser
One of the superpowers of an indie is the ability to be nimble, make changes and introduce newness to your shop in pretty short order. It’s one of the aspects of my job that I really value and enjoy. And it’s one of the qualities that I think makes an independent toy shop so very special. You can react to new trends, customer requests and introduce new ranges and categories with relative ease; no need to spend months planning or having to convince seniors of your ideas. So when in mid-June I received from a supplier one of the now infamous ‘Dear John’ letters, sent out of the blue from a well-known, cat-shaped plush brand, I put those superpowers into action.
The American’s have a saying, ‘when life gives you lemons, make lemonade’. At the point of receiving that letter I felt that I had received a heap of bitter lemons, when I had for many years been happily selling sweet peaches and juicy strawberries. No longer available to me were those best-selling, sought-after fruits. So a recipe for sweet-tasting, irresistible lemonade would have to be whipped up.
Admittedly, it took some days to dust my superhero cape off, catch my breath and pull up my big girl pants. Being dumped is never nice. When you stock an iconic, best-selling brand and are known far and wide for selling it, build the rest of your ranges around it and rely on the income from it, it’s not easy to say goodbye.
But several brilliant things happened. Firstly, my customers reminded me that it’s not the end of the world. While I had been worried about a backlash that would be aimed at Jollys for the situation, and that I’d have amused, smiley face egg on our face, the opposite was true. One customer said: “Ultimately I think you’ll find we all love Jollys more than we do those products.” Yeah, ok, I cried when I heard that.
Second brilliant thing: the out of the blue, ingenious email that I received from the UK agent of a French plush brand. I knew the supplier, but was simply on a mailing list and hadn’t ordered from them before. The timing of that email was perfect. The gist was, ‘We sell beautiful soft toys, we are lovely to deal with and we value working with independent toy shops. No stress, just beautiful products you can display however you like’. Yes please! Email received Sunday evening, replied Sunday evening. By Monday morning we had made an appointment to meet (more on that later).
The result of the two brilliant things? Empowerment. I was reminded of my superpowers as an indie shop keeper to do as Ross from Friends commands: pivot! Jollys, like any indie toy shop, is loved for more than just one brand; there are many more fluffy, cute fish in the sea, and there are suppliers out there that want to work with small shops. Wallow-no longer Mrs Jollys, get on with it, the sea is full and ready to swim in!
Read the full article in the September issue of Toys n Playthings
