Monday February 4 2019 THE NATIONAL MOTORCYCLE MUSEUM, BIRMINGHAM
Thinking about what they eat and food
provenance is key. So as well as home cooking, ‘growing your own’ is also important. And as anyone who has ever grown fruit and veg knows, it all comes at once - so preserving is popular now.
What’s not? Spiralizers - a shame though, as it was good while it lasted. And home baking. After the boom from 2010 (when TV series ‘The Great British Bake Off’ started), it has been slowing down since 2015. This year’s royal wedding did nothing to help sales - there was a severe lack of street parties!
What’s ‘the next big thing’? I think coffee machines will make a comeback as people make a decent coffee before heading off to work. And then there’s bowl eating – we sell more bowls than dinner plates now. Our KitchenCraft Stoneware bowl stand has sold really well since we put it in.
What are you most excited about for the next season? Spices. We put a Spicentice stand in after we
saw it at Spring Fair and it’s had a really good reaction. These are meal kits made with 100% pure herbs and spices. Each kit includes its own recipe and shopping list with all the spices you need for the dish, so you don’t have to go out and buy a whole load of spices you may never use again (before they go out of date!). The Chicken Jalfrezi Spice Kit is as good as the M&S one I sometimes buy. And the best thing of all is that the range is recommended by [UK- based weight loss organisation] Slimming World as it is low in fat, salt and sugar. Spice Kitchen spice tins also will make a great gift for Christmas.
What’s the most rewarding aspect of your job? The people I work with. They constantly inspire and amaze me with their enthusiasm, energy and innovative ideas on how we can improve on what we can do, to be better
What’s the most challenging aspect of your job? Controlling costs when sales growth is minimal, yet costs are rising.
talking shop
What are the main opportunities facing independent housewares retailers? The opportunities are that we can have strong and loyal relationships with our customers, which national and online retailers struggle with. We are knowledgeable, provide high levels of customer service and, most importantly, we belong and participate in the communities we work in - and customers value that.
And the main challenge? The current lack of footfall in some of our high streets. Therefore retailers will have to introduce more services to get customers to come through their doors. For example, pet shops have dog grooming parlours and shops are introducing Post Office counters. [Other options are] hire of equipment, receiving and sending parcels and so on.
What advice would you give to someone starting out in housewares buying? Be passionate about what you are buying. Listen to your customers and buy what they like - not what you like
challenging people to avoid single-use (disposable) plastic. Lawsons managing director Liz Lawson says: “The Plastic Free movement has really
Lawsons goes plastic-free in July L
awsons is taking part in Plastic Free July and has signed up to the challenge at
www.plasticfreejuly.org. Organised by charity The Plastic Free July Foundation, the campaign aims to raise awareness of the world’s growing plastic waste problem by
resonated with Lawsons and our customers. However, when I started looking into it, I found there was little practical advice or information on where to buy alternatives. So we decided that instead of doing a promotional leaflet this summer, we would do one with practical advice for our customers.” The leaflet highlights reusable or recyclable versions of ‘the top four takeaway items’:
water bottles (Built stainless steel bottles, Sistema Hydrate square bottles); drinking straws (100% organic compostable paper straws from Fallen Fruits); takeaway coffee cups (Stojo collapsible cups, Built double-walled insulated tumblers, Ecoffee cups made of bamboo); and shopping bags (recycled plastic bags from Rex International, cotton string bags from Bags2Keep, trolley bags from
www.trolleybags.com and shopping trolleys from Sabichi Homewares). Liz adds that as part of this initiative, Lawsons has decided to withdraw from sale all of its single-use plastic bags in July “so we can start a conversation with our customers about being plastic-free. Did you know that a single-use plastic bag is used for approximately 15 minutes? When I suggested the idea to our sales colleagues they were really enthusiastic”. Lawsons currently charges 5p for single-use carrier bags and hopes that
by 2020 it will no longer have them at all. All the money collected goes to a local charity. Liz adds: “We changed our waste contractor a couple of years ago so none of our waste goes to landfill. We got rid of all the kettles in our staff rooms and replaced them with low energy water heaters, which means it’s quicker for staff to make a hot drink and saves energy. And all our stores’ lights have been changed to LED – again, to save energy and costs.” The retailer is promoting its Plastic Free July push on social media, its website and in-store with the message: ‘Choose to refuse - there’s no excuse for single-use!’
July/August 2018
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