retailinterview Just Williams
Vicky Brown has been running Just Williams since March 2007, and in that time has grown the business from one branch to three. Tom Roberts caught up with Vicky to find out how she did it, and what’s coming next.
couple of independent stores close to our branches. We try to differentiate ourselves with our product ranges and the experience that our customers have. We feel that it is this that has helped us to develop the huge amount of regular customers we have. As we are part of our local community, which we rely on for business, I feel it is important that we have a certain focus on our community. Therefore we are increasingly trying to work with our local schools, nurseries and hospitals
Tell us how your business started and what made you decide to open a toy retail store? I bought Just Williams from a dear friend of mine, Jackie Williams, whose dream it was to own a toy shop. She opened the shop in October 2005. After only 15 months her husband’s job relocated abroad and it was at this point in March 2007 that I bought the business. At the time my husband and I were looking for a business to take on, but not a toy shop and not in London! We felt it was an opportunity which we could not turn down, and have not looked back since. Although I had not managed a shop I had prior
retail and project management experience, which have proved invaluable along with lots of energy and the ability to have fun. At the end of the day I am working with toys day in day out and they are all about entertainment, educating and having fun – what more could you want?
I opened my second shop in East Dulwich (SE London) in May 2009, followed by our Clapham Branch in April 2011.
How long did it take to pull everything together? The whole process of opening a new branch, having found a location, took about six months, mainly due to legal reasons. Once we had a completion date, the shop fittings, training and stocking the new branch took five or six weeks. I think with experience you can streamline the timeframe – after all, if you had to open in three weeks, you would do it! What I have learned from opening the new stores is that having a solid structure and vision is key to rolling out new branches. I am always being asked what’s next: yes I would like to expand, but at the moment no plans.
What local competition do you have? My three shops are not based on high streets so we are not competing with any multiples, but there are a
30 Toyworld
through various initiatives. Working with these people both gives us an opportunity to give back to our communities, but also increases the awareness of our brand.
Which toy suppliers have been particularly helpful? At the end of the day building relationships with suppliers is key. All those who I have done this with have helped me, be it opening a new shop, resolving issues, passing on offers, etc. There are several who stand out. I can’t fault Melissa and Doug for their customer service and DS Hobbs Wholesalers, who I can always rely on to help us in any way they can.
What do you do to promote your stores? Apart from the usual advertising, we promote the business through partnerships with schools – these are relationships which we are continually trying to develop. For example, we have run craft days, arts and crafts competitions, had stalls at school fairs, provide raffle prizes, and sourced presents from Father Christmas, and general supplies and equipment. We also sponsor one of the teams run by a local football club, Dulwich Village. I think nowadays it is important to try and think outside the box and find ways to work with other business to help promote each other.
What challenges are there in opening a new branch? The hardest thing with opening a new shop is the initial cash that you need for stock. Without any credit reference you will not be able to have a credit account with suppliers, and therefore all initial stock is purchased on a proforma basis. Everything always leads to cash flow!
The second challenge is definitely staff. However, opening my second and third shops were a lot easier as I pulled on my existing staffing pool and ensured that there was an employee from one of my older branches every shift, and new employees also worked at existing
branches to help integrate them into the Just Williams way. This enabled them to speed up their training and understand the importance of always providing good customer service. I have been into new shops and there is nothing worse than no one having a clue about anything. Once a new branch is up and running I have found
that it’s taken about 12 months for everything to run 100% smoothly and be truly integrated into the business. It has always been interesting going through the first busy Christmas period.
How does the local community interact with your business? What I have found most interesting is how our customers shopping patterns seem to have gone through a total circle. There was a point when everyone was buying everything on the internet and in out of town shopping centres, but now we are increasingly getting customers who want to shop locally and support their locally community. They come into our shops and tell us they have seen a product on Amazon for example but can we source it for them as they want to support us. I think this is due to increased costs of parking, petrol and people putting a greater emphasis on their local communities. I think they are realising that if they don’t use their local shops they will lose them, which will have a detrimental effect on the area in which they live. Our customers are our local communities, and we
love it when we have children coming in with their pocket money, counting out their coins to buy the latest must-have toy. Despite the recession, our customers are still spending money on their children and I am sure this is an expense that is the last to go! At Christmas time, we have seen that people are spending less on individual items but probably spending the same in total as our sales have not gone down over Christmas.
What lines are selling best for you? It can be hard to ensure we have balance of enough of the popular must-have products, and the more unusual products and brands. We stock staples such as Lego, Playmobil, Brio, Sylvanian Families, Micro Scooters, Bigjigs and Jellycat for example, and then change our other products regularly to ensure we have an interesting offering for our regular customers. As a result, whenever we have a delivery of items which we have not stocked for a few months they then tend to fly out the door, making room for the next new product! Lego is always a consistent seller for us. At the moment we are selling a lot of Playmobil, Melissa & Doug, Arts Straws, lots of trading cards, and Moshi sales are still strong as are our dressing up outfits. Our vision is to build a culture within our business that makes us proud of our brand.
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