With the Scotland Trade Fair Spring Fair gearing up to open its doors in Glasgow’s SEC on Sunday (January 21) for three days, all eyes will be on the upcoming seasons, with retailers keen to see the new launches from exhibitors, which this year includes a healthy number of card publishers alongside gift, home, fashion accessories, craft and food brands. Publishers exhibiting include Louise Tiler Designs, I Drew This, Brainbox Candy and The Art File.
While it is important to look forward what of the immediate past season. PG Buzz asked Fiona Fabien, director of leading Glasgow greeting card retailer Papyrus to reveal her Christmas trading patterns.
Performance: “We were up on last year’s turnover overall. It’s hard to predict anything these days, so I was prepared for any scenario, always hoping we will see an increase in turnover.”
Buying patterns: “Christmas card sales were up, which I wasn’t really expecting, with single Christmas cards for relations continuing to increase; a trend which keeps growing year-on-year. I would say that customers are quite savvy these days and we have to have an offer for all budgets – high-end handmade/hand-finished cards to more affordable ranges.”
Mitigating circumstances: “This is our first Christmas with the new parking restrictions in force on Byres Road. Gone are the days of free parking. I was expecting a negative impact, however, with our footfall and turnover up I can only conclude that customers park for a shorter time, leaving a turnover of parking spaces rather than commuters parking all day, to take the subway into town to work and city centre shops.”
* Scotland’s Trade Fair Spring, organised by Springboard Events, is one of the exhibition’s biggest ever, with a new layout and many enhanced features: www.scotlandstradefairs.co.uk
