Gift Focus - Jan/Feb 2019 (Issue 111)

profitable. Our backdrop was made from garden trellis, hung with walking sticks. Tell us about Spring Fair. What are your plans for this year? How has the show changed since you first attended? This is our 30 th consecutive Spring Fair, which is particularly special for Diana, as she has attended all of them. We are showcasing lots of beautiful new walking sticks, including new National Gallery patterns, some glamorous evening canes in jewel colours with sparking crystal collars, some smart new leather seat sticks – including some UK-made models – and some affordable everyday canes with decorative touches. Even with our simplest canes, there is no danger of looking as if you have been loaned it by a hospital. The show has changed immeasurably since we first exhibited. Then you could be on a waiting list for years before it was possible to take a stand. The aisles were so crowded at times that you couldn’t have left your stand if you had wanted to. The cost of taking the stand was recouped in the first day by orders taken, and it was the primary way to meet new customers. Cabinet ministers used to attend, and you would see them walking around and learning about exhibitors’ businesses. Everyone was very smartly dressed for business, and both exhibitors and retailers took it extremely seriously. Today, it is all much more relaxed but remains the best way to meet new retailers who perhaps haven’t considered walking sticks before. We are always encouraging retailers to attend trade fairs because you can’t do it all on the internet. You can’t Google something you’ve never heard of. Which trade shows do you attend? Do you each have a favourite? Spring Fair and Trade Days (a specialist fair for the healthcare industry) are our main events now. Other fairs such as the Autumn Fair still play a part. GLEE (gardening) and BETA (equestrian and country clothing) are favourites from a personal point of view as we love gardening and horses. What has been each of your personal highlights in the business? Diana: Having my children join the business (Charlotte’s brother, Johnny, helped set up the manufacturing side) and also the great day when we moved the office out of the house and into its own purpose-built building. The business has also enabled me to travel to many countries and places I would otherwise never have seen. Charlotte: Being able to take what was already a fabulous business and develop the house style in terms of the products, catalogues and marketing. Customers often refer to us as the “Rolls-Royce of walking sticks,” which is very cheering. And it is always a delight when a potential new stockist contacts us and tells us they have heard we are the very best. What values have remained important to the company? We always strive to offer a fast, efficient and polite service to our customers. We hold a lot of stock and do everything we can to make the lives of our stockists easier. These objectives remain the same whatever else changes in the business environment. How are you finding the current economic climate in the UK? Is it affecting business? Outside of London and the better internet stockists, there is no denying that these are challenging times in the UK. An ideal walking stick stockist for us is an upmarket independent retailer in a nice county town or market town, but these are much scarcer than they used to be. We receive many calls frommembers of the public who are looking giftfocus 191 company profile