While children everywhere are making their lists and checking them twice, one local family-run toy retailer is making final preparations for their most wonderful time of the year.
Anita Stewart and Angie Gilruth greet me with the same friendly smiles that meet all of their customers when they visit The Nappy Pin and Toymaster store on Broughty Ferry’s Gray Street.
They have built up a loyal customer-base over the years and the two early Christmas cards resting on the old-fashioned shop counter are testament to just how much their personal service means to local shoppers.
“They like to see the familiar faces,” says Anita, “And a lot of our customers just come in to chat, you know?
“They just want some company they don’t necessarily buy anything, but we don’t mind. That’s that’s part of the family business, in a smaller community like this I think that’s quite important.”
Keeping it in the family
The Nappy Pin and Toymaster shop in Broughty Ferry has served the local community for more than 50 years. Established by Anita’s father Alex, the original shop was just one of the three units that have been knocked through to make up the current premises. Over the years, Anita’s mother Elaine and even her grannies Anne Stewart and Connie Black have worked behind the counter.
Anita herself joined the business when her father decided to open a Dundee branch and asked if she would like to run it. She was 22 at the time and has been part of the enterprise ever since. Her husband Paul came on board after they married.
Paul now runs the Cupar Nappy Pin and Toymaster, which is on Bonnygate, while Anita moved from the Dundee branch to Broughty Ferry when the Constitution Street shop closed six years ago.
“It has just always been in the blood I suppose for me,” she reflects. “I’ve grown up with always having the shops so I suppose it was a natural progression really for me to take it on after my dad retired.”
Visiting The Nappy Pin and Toymaster is like ‘stepping back in time’
Coming into the cosy shop on a freezing November day is a little bit like stepping back in time and that’s how Anita wants it to stay.
I remark on the beautiful old wooden cabinets behind the traditional shop counter and she says, enthusiastically: “We love them too and the amount of people that comment on them when they come in is massive. We want to look like an old-fashioned shop. I don’t want a sterile environment to work in – I want it to feel cosy and a bit quirky, really.
She believes she can offer something different to supermarkets and discount stores where “it’s just shelves of stock – it’s faceless really”.
The location in the heart of Broughty Ferry is part of her shop’s recipe for success.
Broughty Ferry is the perfect location
“I just think being in The Ferry is great,” she says. “We are lucky to have so many independent shops here and people come down to this location for that very reason.
“Broughty Ferry is a special place – it just is. The Broughty Ferry Traders’ Association supports us, doing events like the summer fete and the big Christmas Light Night all trying to bring business into the area.
“They do a lot to help – they put a lot of work into it and it’s great to know that we have the support there.”
The strong ties between local shop owners add another string to Toymaster’s bow, as do Anita’s loyal customers.
She says they continue to support her because: “They just like the face-to-face, they like to speak to somebody and the older generation are very aware that their loyalty makes a difference.
“They always come in and say we like to shop local – they know the importance of shopping local.
“My customers are very loyal and really support us, which is vital to our business.
“I think they know us now, it’s just nice,” continues Anita. “The odd one will bring in a card or a box of sweeties at Christmas – you do feel appreciated.”
Angie has worked with Anita for more years than she cares to remember. She values the connections that she has made with customers over the years.
“We’ve got an older lady who pulls up outside every year in a taxi,” she says. “She must be about 80 and she comes down every Christmas to get the few presents she needs to buy and it’s just nice to see her each year,” she says.
Anita feels that the fact that the teams in Broughty Ferry and Cupar have been with the family business for so long sends a positive message to customers.
“The continuity of staff really helps a business,” she says. “It makes a huge difference to us. It becomes much more structured and organised when you know you can rely on your staff rather than changing about all the time and our customers like to see the familiar faces.”
Keeping the independent shops alive
The shop owner is well aware that many of her customers are part of the older generation and that will be the main challenge for the Stewart family over the coming years.
“All independents are suffering from the younger mentality of just going on their phone to order something and it will arrive the next day.
“I don’t think they realise that the more they do that the less chance they have of having independent shops left – the older folk definitely support us in The Ferry.”
Anita is pragmatic about the challenges, though, and is determined to offer something that simply isn’t available online or in big chains.
“Obviously you have got the big stores who are always discounting things and we can’t compete with that. So we try and steer clear of what they sell.
“We try to be more quirky, more niche, and more traditional. We stock nothing computer related, no PS or Nintendo!
“We are definitely an old-fashioned toy shop.”
What is Toymaster’s Christmas club?
Other services that set The Nappy Pin and Toymaster apart from larger companies include their Christmas club. People can pay a 10% deposit to secure an item for Christmas.
“We put the toy away so they know they have got it. We do the same for large nursery items and it doesn’t cost our customers any extra.”
“And we sometimes wrap them for Christmas!” adds Angie.
Anita says that she is also proud of the relationships she has built locally over the years. For example: “We have the support of Kingsway East Fire Station, they come here for their presents for the Christmas party. We pick, wrap and label all their gifts for their party. And they have been really supportive over the years, which is great.”
Running the family shops under the Toymaster banner also helps Anita and Paul to compete in an ever-changing market.
“Toymaster is a buying group,” explains Anita, “there is a Toymaster show once a year down in Harrowgate and we do our buying for Christmas there.
“We are all independently owned but with the benefit of being part of a buying group. Say we wanted to order Lego; we would all go through the one group so that we could get a reasonable price.”
“The branding helps as well – Toymaster is still a recognised name.”
Ordering all her own stock and having close relationships with her chosen suppliers helps Anita to know the toys that she sells inside out.
Parents want toys to get their kids ‘away from screens’
“Product knowledge is vital,” she says. “People will come in and say I just need a gift for a five-year-old or for a seven-year-old, and we can give them options.”
This year Anita and Angie feel that parents are looking for more interactive toys that will encourage their kids away from computers. “They are looking for stuff that they can sit and do together,” explains Anita.
“It’s to get them off the screens,” says Angie, “things to do without their phones.”
With that in mind, there are a few toys with a distinctly retro feel back on the shelves this year.
“Fuzzy felt is a blast from the past and it’s back this year with a vengeance,” Anita points out.
“Also traditional board games like Ludo, Connect 4 and Snakes and Ladders.
“It’s about creating memories – Christmas is about that special family time, when you sit down together and play a board game.
“I think that people appreciate Christmas more now because we have had the Covid thing and now that time is even more precious.”
Anita’s top toy recommendations for Christmas 2023:
- Lego – the enduring favourite never goes out of fashion.
- Orchard Toys – a range of beautifully made educational games for pre-school and primary aged children.
- Fuzzy Felt! That staple of many a 70s childhood is back with a vengeance this year.
- Barbie – The Barbie Movie has certainly increased sales of the perfect plastic mannequin and her pink accessories.
- Spirograph – another blast from the past that is being rediscovered by a new generation.
