Page 31 - June 2021

I can describe it. We endeavoured to maximise our income and minimise our outgoings and that has been the primary objective of every
department within the company. Whilst this is something we always do, we had to do it last year as a matter of urgency whilst creating safe
environments for our staff to work in and for our customers to shop in.”
The launch of the rebadged The Entertainer store in Valencia is the brand’s latest store ‘opening’; meanwhile in the UK they are relocating
and renovating their Shrewsbury site. For now it is very much a watching brief due to the ongoing uncertainty Covid-19 has created.
Grant says that the lockdown has altered people’s buying habits and even today with shops open, their online sales are creating double
the turnover they were in 2019, however he does say that since reopening, the excitement to have stores open again has been fantastic and
customer response and performance has been exceptional.
Moving forward, the primary focus at the moment is to grow their Spanish business. “We are doing two things in Spain – we are refurbishing
and rebadging our stores and secondly, we are looking for new store openings in areas where we are not represented.”
Back in the UK, a part of the business they are growing is their curated partnerships. So currently they have around 140 toy stores inside
Matalan, and this successful partnership has been running now for four years. They are currently in a middle of a trial with Asda and that has
been running for nearly four months now, with initial results looking good. “We are also working with other retailers who are looking to
have a toy presence without the commitment of having to set up buying teams who don’t understand the market. We work with suppliers
and licensors and we are very well placed to put together ranges that will suit most types of retailers where there isn’t sort of competition
or clashing of our current stores and of partners that we are already working with,” says Grant.
When discussing social media, the Founder and Executive Chairman explains that, for The Entertainer, it is a really positive medium and
an excellent way of quickly communicating with its customers and keeping in touch with them and advising them of upcoming events, online
and in-store specials.
“At the end of the day, it is all about making sure we are keeping the customer central to our decisions. We want to be an outstanding
retailer and we want people to feel positive about us. Our objective is wherever we can, be the very best that we can, in order that our
customers have the very best experience when interacting with our business, be that in-store or online,” Grant concludes.
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