A huge sigh of relief!

Phew - All of our Christmas orders have left the building, all of them on time, and they are well on the way to helping make many peoples day on Christmas in 2 days time.

It has been a manic and very testing time on our systems, and yet again, have a lot of changes to make in order to be even more efficient for next Christmas, and this year, we picked and packed around 8,000 orders, with over 5,000 of those in the first two weeks of December! At least we had no stocking filler flyers left over, in fact we used all of our generic flyers too, and ran out just on the last day of packing.

Overall, it has been our best Christmas yet; our Totnes toy shop is now rooted firmly to the ground having been here for just over 1 year and online business was up by over 30%. I just hope the demand for traditional toys continues to grow and more children are pulled away from their solitary games consoles next year and encoured to re-discover the true play value and family time that traditional toys and games can offer.

Let me take this opportunity to thank Paul, Jenny, Katherine, Tom, Jo and Rob, and not forgetting my wife Emily, for working so hard to get everyones toys out in good time, and now take a well earn't rest and enjoy a very happy Christmas and all the best for 2009.

Now time to get the VAT return out of the way and start planning for next Christmas...

Christmas has arrived!

Christmas is definately with us here at Toyday, with a massive increase in orders from last Monday. We advertised for 2 extra picker / packers and another customer service advisor on Thursday afternoon, and Friday Morning the phone was ringing off the hook for 2 hours, until I had to call and suspend the ad!

At least we can clear the backlog of Christmas orders on Monday and it looks like we'll be running full steam ahead getting everyones stocking fillers and last minute christmas toys out right through until last post. Last monday we filled the Royal Mail van right up, and this Monday I think we're going to need at least two collections.

Luckily Emily and I managed to take a few days off last week, so we're feeling refreshed and ready to go!

We just need to find a Santa for our Grotto which we are planning on having in the Totnes shop on the late night Christmas shopping days.

Toyday on Radio Devon

A few weeks ago, a man named Vic Morgan came into our Totnes shop and thought it was brilliant. He asked if it would be possible to do a feature on our traditional toy shop, and I said yes, sure, why not - nothing wrong with a bit of free publicity. Before I knew it, he whipped a microphone from his bag, and started to interview me, really putting me on the spot and asking questions about the toys, our suppliers and enthusing and getting quite excited about all the toys in the shop.

The interview wasn't live, it was recorded, so I didn't panic too much, as I thought at least they can edit out anything too bad! The interview was played at around 11'o clock that night, and news travels fast; a few days later, I recieved an email from my mum in Spain, who was so proud of her son, that she was inspired to write a poem about the event, which follows: -


ADAM IS A RADIO STAR.

My son Adam is a radio star.
I always thought he could go far.
His voice was heard on Radio Devon,
Friday evening, at ten to eleven.

His Nan was listening in her bed,
"We are now going to 'Toyday'," the presenter said.
Nan reached to turn her radio up loud,
As she listened to Adam, he made her proud !

The presenter called in to the Totnes shop And caught Adam on the hop,
Vic said "I hope you will agree, To record an interview with me. "
Adam thought for a short while,
Then answered yes, with a smile.

They talked about the games and toys,
Some for girls and some for boys.
For Vic it was a trip down memory lane.
It is so nice to see these toys again.

Table skittles, a wooden hobby horse,
Tiddly winks as well , of course.
Adam mentioned his shop in Looe,
Which has many things to interest you.

On the internet view the 'Toyday' range,
Some things you can buy with your small change.
Adam was so glad he did agree,
It is so good to have FREE publicity !

Janet Rose, Moraira - 2008

Christmas Last Posting Dates

Our Christmas last posting dates we're added tthe website today:

Stocking Filler Flyers

The flyers Adam has been designing for the last couple of weeks arrived from the printers today. They are looking great! Just a Christmasy version of our regular flyer but with all our new products, top ten and some stocking filler ideas.

Our Halloween stuff came off the shelves today, not that there was much left after a busy last minute rush. That just means one thing though.... Christmas is well on its way! Our Internet orders have been rising steadily just under 90 parcels left yesterday and 60ish today.