Toys ‘n’ Playthings are sad to report the passing of toy industry retail veteran, Geoff Green. Founder Malcolm Naish remembers him:
I am always sad to report the passing of toy trade entrepreneurs and Geoff Green was certainly one of them.
Taking over their Gainsborough department store from his parents in the early seventies, having joined the family business in the sixties, Geoff had gained buying experience with trips to the East End buying stock from wholesalers such as the Houndsditch Warehouse., already buying from the likes of Lines Bros/Triang, Hornby, Pedigree etc. John Nicholas was a great friend and tells me that Geoff met his wife Diana, who was a sales assistant at Greensand they married in the late sixties. Diana was soon promoted, taking a very active part in the growing success of Greens of Gainsborough.
In the early seventies with the growth of the regional buying groups, Geoff became a leading member of the Snowfold Group, using his warehouse to store the Group’s merchandise.
Together they soon began adding additional stores in towns including Scunthorpe, Worksop and Newark – at their peak Greens owned 17 toy stores. Geoff was always passionate about independent retailers joining a buying group, eventually as with all regional buying groups, Snowfold joined Unigroup, later to be called Toymaster.
Together for over 30 years they travelled the world attending all the various toy fairs and as John stated “The Greens are here, panic when they came on your stand, to ensure everything was as it should be.”
From the late nineties onwards, who can forget their seminars and invited suppliers stands in early September at Kilworth House allowing their managers and assistant managers to familiarise themselves with the products that would soon be arriving at their stores. Threedays of great fun and hard work into the early hours.
I was fortunate to always receive an invite, that always gave me great insight into what would be their best-selling toys for Christmas. Like all good things, nothing last forever and sadly Greens closed their doors in 2006.
Geoff died peacefully at the age of 84 – a life well led. Our thoughts are with his sons Ben and Tom, their wives Jo and Shaylin and four grandchildren.
Geoff’s funeral will be held at10.30am on Friday 2 October at Lea Fields Crematorium just outside Gainsborough, Lincs.
