Moving on face-to-face


With the AIS-organised Independent Toy and Gift show just weeks away (15th and 16th April 2014), Toy World editor Tom Roberts caught up with AIS’s Joyce Daly to find out about the upcoming show and her plans for retirement.


You originally came from a childrenswear background. How do you think the toy market differs from the childrenswear sector? I am still involved with both Children’s Fashion and Schoolwear at AIS, as well as Toys. The plaY-room team runs Independent Kids, in February and July, plus The Schoolwear Show, in October, each year, we look after everything to do with children within the AIS Buying Group. Children’s Fashion is organised around two distinct


seasons, Spring/Summer and Autumn/Winter. Toys is more like Schoolwear enjoying an uplift at Easter, followed by a heavily-weighted three-month sales period in the second half, which always includes two or three nail-bitingly crucial weeks which make or break the year. Like Schoolwear, the toy industry is still largely run by individuals who set out to make the simple process of buying, selling and making a profit, as complicated as possible. Working with all three of these areas makes life very interesting most of the time.


Tell us about the history of AIS and how it first became involved with toys?


AIS is a multi-channel buying group for independent retailers throughout the UK and ROI, and had its own Toy division until the early 90’s when members were encouraged to join one of the specialist toy buying groups. Following the demise of Youngsters in 2008, 15 AIS members asked the Board to set up a new Toy division through which they could access toys for their department stores. I became involved at this point, with Miles Penhallow, Charlotte Roberts and Alan Simpson then joining the team. With the financial backing and existing resources of


AIS we were able to quickly set up plaY-room. These were uncertain days in retail as the economic downturn was just beginning, but we received tremendous support from dozens of toy companies and were able to launch in June 2008 just eight weeks after our first meeting. Having worked hard for six years we have been lucky. Each member of the plaY-room team brings a different strength to the table and together we have built a strong base from which to go forward turning £16m, at cost, in our fifth full year.


What advantages did you believe the PlaY-Room operation could offer its members and toy retailers in general? We care, we know our members and we care about their businesses, we know our suppliers and we work with them as an extension of our own team, because we know that it has to work for all of us if independent toy retailing in the UK is to survive. Our members, and anyone applying for


membership, can rely on us to be honest with them. We are only interested in outcomes which benefit all concerned, and that is why we only work with independent retailers who operate predominantly bricks and mortar businesses. We understand the industry and the product, and we give our members the tools they need to deliver a good service to their customers and a healthy bottom line to their directors.


How important is the annual show to your members? We offer three shows each year to our members and all are very important to them. The hugely successful plaY-room member-only import shows are vital to our members’ abilities to deliver a realistic margin. The Toy and Gift Show in April is essential for our members to view the toys which will make the second half of the year work for them. Cranmore Park, the home of AIS, hosts buyers-only


shows every week, with each one specifically designed for a particular area of the AIS business. We know what buyers need in the increasingly pressured buying windows, working with a limited number of staff and tight budgets. We design our shows so that our members can do


the professional buying job expected of them. Buyers consistently tell us that we have the best buying venue in the UK because we ensure that exhibitors offer the edited highlight of what our members need for a successful outcome in the upcoming season. We now have a loyal following of independent toy


retailers, who are not members of plaY-room, that visit our April event every year. Any independent bricks and mortar toy retailer is able to attend and each will be able to park, enjoy refreshments and a superb lunch free of charge. At AIS we understand buying and we know how to look after our buyers.


How is this year’s event shaping up? The April 2014 edition of Independent Toy and Gift is sold out and has a waiting list. Eighty suppliers will fill 3,000 square metres of ground floor showroom space with the Play-Doh Cafe offering cupcakes and cappuccino coffee free to all visitors and exhibitors.


How has the toy landscape – and PlaY-Room’s role in it – changed over the past six years? Having created plaY-room because AIS member department stores asked us to, we were immediately joined by a number of toy specialist retailers, including SMF Toytown with more than 20 branches, and, since 2009, by an increasing number of garden centres. We currently have 83 members with 208 outlets across the UK and ROI and expect this number to steadily increase. Backed by the financial clout of AIS, and with the accounting, marketing, printing, visual merchandising


and facilities which AIS provides to all areas of the business, we have grown each year and become a reliable, stable but energetic force within the UK toy market. We have earned this position.


How do you see the future for PlaY-Room? In 2008, when we were considering a name for our new toy buying group we deliberately avoided using the word “toy”. We have always planned that plaY-room would offer members a wide range of children’s lifestyle products which included toys. The Toy and Gift Show will offer all of the UK’s biggest


brands in toys, under one roof, for the first time in 2014. Alongside these will be gifts for children, family games, outdoor activity, role-play, cards, wrap and craft ideas for all the family. I am certain that plaY-room will continue to evolve in the capable hands of Miles Penhallow, the plaY-room team at AIS, and the Toytown team at SMF.


What are you looking forward to most about retirement? Spending more time outdoors hill walking, cycling, skiing, sailing and sitting in my new Summer house overlooking the Usk Valley reading the excellent Friday Baulch Blog.


What will you miss most? The people, of course, are the biggest loss for anyone who is retiring. I will miss many friends, some whom I have worked with for decades and others for only a few years including suppliers, retailers and colleagues within AIS. Thank goodness for e-mail.


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