Lockdown has eased, our high streets are starting to bustle again and now we are being urged to shop locally to support our towns and cities.
Lee Choules, manager and owner of Great Yarmouth-based Just Kids, which sells a wide range of items for children ranging from newborn up to early teens, explains why he would encourage shoppers to get out and about.
1. People are thrilled to be able to walk into a shop again
My partner Stacey and I opened Just Kids during the first week of March, just before the lockdown. Our social media presence helped us to get started very quickly and trade was good.
Since lockdown has been lifted, we have continued to go from strength to strength, and are already starting to see regular customers coming back.
We have had some amazingly positive comments from those coming into the shop – and they appreciate the fact we will be open all year round.
2. Customers like to be able to browse
I don’t think that you can beat going into a shop and seeing the items you want; feeling them having a good look round.
When you are choosing a pushchair for instance, seeing it up close beats a picture online or a catalogue – and the same goes for a toy, which may well look large online but then disappoint you when it arrives by perhaps being much smaller in reality.
3. Staff can discuss items and highlight current trends
If customers come into shops, then staff can demonstrate how things work. For us, this includes our single and double pushchairs and strollers, which are selling so well at the moment that we have had to increase our range to keep up with demand.
We also sell a wide range of branded toys – like Peppa Pig, Fisher Price, Bing, Fortnite, Thomas the Tank Engine and WWE, and items for babies, such as reins, baths, potties, bottles and bibs, as well as pushchairs, buggy footmuffs, rain covers, birthday cards, stationery and gifts – that customers like to hear more about.
4. People appreciate the customer service
Customers like to meet helpful, friendly staff and hear what individual shops can do for them. For example, in our case, we offer free local delivery on larger items and are always open to stocking new items that customers ask for.
We also plan to hold special baby events throughout the year, and I have been known to give away free toys on certain occasions. It is a delight to see the children’s faces light up and the parents are always very appreciative.
5. You can find quality and value
High street shops like Just Kids will often set out to be different. We want to be able to offer quality and value in our designs of clothes, so we haven’t chosen run-of-the-mill products but stock items you would be hard pressed to find elsewhere.
We also check our prices against other local retailers, as well as catalogue shopping stores, and we have managed to keep our price point lower while still making a reasonable turnover. Our aim is always to achieve value, quality and fair pricing.
When customers spend over a certain amount, Just Kids gifts them a VIP discount card, offering 15 per cent off future purchases. The shop offers Flexipay where customers can spread larger purchases over a number of weeks or months, with zero interest, and has launched a Christmas savings club, with a free £5 start.
For more information visit Just Kids at 91 to 92 Regent Road, Great Yarmouth.
Call 01493 234144; email info@justkidsretail.co.uk or visit www.facebook.com/justkidsretail.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here