Retail Interview
In the second of our
reports on the seven
longest-standing members
of Cardgains we visit
West iindndiiee
Sentiments in the coastal
resort of Burnham-on-Sea,
Somerset.
im Potts joined his family’s
T
Weston-super-Mare card
“Customers
Tim Potts above and
store in 1984 but the
want a
left with Sentiments
business began life nearly 42
staff LtoR: Liz, Hannah
years ago and at one time
larger
and Sue
had two units.
In his time in the industry, choice
Potts has seen publishers come and go and
watched the changing face of the industry
today,
from his vantage point in the South West.
Now he’s running just the one store,
which is
Sentiments, from its high street location further
why we are
down the coast from Weston at Burnham-on-
Sea.
looking to
It’s a classic holidaymakers spot and as
such sees seasonal trade in the summer
the Internet,
months but can suffer in the winter.
“We get a few holidaymakers passing even though
our door in the summer,” says Potts, before
adding ruefully, “Pity they’re not here at
it’s quite
Christmas though. Being a small town you see
hard to sell
satin boxed cards especially for Wife and One is keen to explore the opportunities for selling
people emigrating to the larger centres just
I Love, which were about £5 back then plus cards, gifts, plush, balloons, party ware and
before Christmas.”
online.”
musical satin cards from £7 - £14. even cakes in cyberspace.
When Cardgains launched in 1989 its sales
“And we used to sell a lot of musical keys Sentiments are a main Tatty Teddy, Me
rep, Judy called in to the store to introduce
at £10 too - I wonder how much they would to You dealership in the South West with a
the scheme and signed up Sentiments almost
be at today’s value?” large instore display, but customers can also
immediately.
Despite the changing nature of card buy online from anywhere throughout the UK
“Over the last 20 years Cardgains has
retailing and stiff competition for customers, Scotland and Wales.
done a brilliant job supporting the greeting
Potts is convinced the card business is still a Me to You bears and gifts, including key
card industry and has gone from strength to
buoyant market, where you can sell on quality rings, phone charms, collectibles, mugs,
strength,” says Tim. “We get a discount on
of design as well as on price. balloons and banners are all available instore
cards, gifts, chocolates, shop fi tting and even
“Today we face Increasingly strong and online.
credit card processing.
competition from the multiples, supermarkets “Customers want a larger choice today,”
“As well as the discount we also like the
and increasing numbers of retailers selling says Potts. “Which is why we are looking to
effi ciency as we can pay a majority of our
cards. Then there’s modern technology like the the Internet, even though it’s quite hard to sell
suppliers with just one BACS payment.”
Internet emails and texts.” online.
Many of the publishers Potts started out
That’s not to say that Sentiments is hanging “People want higher age captions too,
dealing with have fallen by the wayside but
back and watching the world go by. Potts has which may be generally available now but were
despite a few ups and downs he continues to
launched his own website for the store and in their infancy 20 years ago.”
deal with the likes of Hallmark, Carte Blanche
and UK Greetings, which handles his Control.
Some of the reps are the same, although
CARDGAINS MAGNIFICENT SEVEN
they may have switched companies along the
way!
“We’ve always dealt mainly with direct to
Cardgains is the national buying group for independent gift
retail suppliers,” says Potts. “Although we
and greeting card retailers in the UK.
also deal with wholesale cards as we feel in a
As part of Cardgains 20th Anniversary celebrations,
small town like Burnham-on-Sea, we want to the retailers who have been trading with the scheme
provide a service for the range of residents in
since it started have been honoured as the Magnifi cent Seven and inducted into
the town, many of whom are older.
Cardgains ‘Hall of Fame’. The seven retailers that signed up with Cardgains in
“Today we sell cards from 39p to £10,
1989 are all still trading as independent stores in the scheme.
but twenty years ago we used to sell a lot of
Greetings Today 35
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