????What kind of toy shop do you like????

[Skribble]

Ok its another one of my daft research threads. I have been looking at more premises for a toy shop and I have found a quite cheap but large shop.

Thing is what can I do in addition to the current pocket money toys I already do? Loads of room and I am hoping to split rent and responsibility with my friend.

Ideas so far, rent side room to friend for dog grooming.

We could do craft sessions for kids, my freind and myself are both nursery nurses. (tempt mums with free coffee). Mums I have spoke to like the idea of the pottery painting places but have found the one in the town to be very unfreindly and unhelpful as well as expensive.

We could offer kids craft parties either with or without food. Could do other themes as well as crafts.

Difficult to think about what other people would want. I am asking as many mums as I can what they think is lacking in the High Street in terms of kids and toys. At the moment there are no science/discovery type shops like Natural World. Some have suggested a kid/ family freindly cafe but I don't think the place I am looking at would get consent for that.

Rent and rates would be about £200 a week am I kidding myself?

Face painting.

Depending how big the shop is, how about some competative games, i'e skittles, an ostacle course.

I think there is quite a big room to the side.
Friend is great face painter!

So are there loads of mums out there looking for party venues that aren't in soft play/ bouncy castle migraine inducing barns ????

Would you actually pay to have a party hosted in a shop/ craft place?

Would you want to bring your own food (cheaper for parents) or us to provide it (less hassle for parents)?

If you would what is your max per head including and not including food?

Sounds wonderful wish I was in the UK now for this. I know when people have had parties at Brewsters they've paid about 12/15 per head for not much food, paltry pieces of pizza and chicken nuggets and a cake. So would suggest that 10 is fair. Do you have a friend who is a cake maker??? That would add something to it. My boys both love baking and fiddling with pots and pans that's another suggestion for you, also lots of musical instruments - wooden ones. They both got to a montessori nursery here in the US. Good luck hope it's a success

Forgot to add that at a montessori music plays a big part. All kids love to make lots of noise!!!!!

Def crafts + sciency stuff (I am a knitting geek doing a science degree tho so am biased!) Maybe Mothers Day/ Easter etc workshops? Or a regular sat morning/ after school "dump your kids" session?

How about cake making? Or even proper savory food making? You'd need a food prep area but you might need that anyway if you're doing parties.

Have you seen cafe junior Very very popular round here.

I would be careful re the dog grooming tbh. A lot of kids (and parents) have phobia or allergies to them. Obviously fine if completely seperate but I do know mums who would be unhappy if dogs and their hair were flying about!

I agree with Filyjonk that some parents may found proximity of dogs offputting. I think the craft birthday party idea sounds great, certainly the sort of thing I would be interested in doing when DS is older. For younger kids, you could put on a story/song time maybe?

anything you do with keeping children in situ will need excellent toilets. You also need to take into account insurance and the kind of kitchen required to pass regs.

Is it in a very good position and or with excellent car parking because whatever parents say when you research they will not stray far from the beaten track even in town centres.

what about a computer oriented after school club or haircuts

Therenis/ used to be a fairy shop in Bath that held parties there.Always thought it'd be nice to have one there for a little girl.

There was a pottery painting place in our nearest town until xmas when it closed down. They did parties i think. Seems to be popular.

And a bistro type place in same town offers art and craft parties for kids, including food. they charge approx £12 a head, min 8, max 12 I think, and last 1.5 hrs.

Thanks for the ideas everyone, by the way the dog grooming would not be an option if we did parties (unless we did puppy parties?).

Only thing about activities where kids are left is the increased regulations, if its for parties where at least one or 2 parents stay then its not a problem.

The location is very good 20metres up a nice cobbled lane off the high street between Next and Monsoon, typical town centre parking though.

Story sessions sound good too, I like the idea of science sessions in addition to the crafty ones, really messy volcano type things. These would be where parents had to stay (and buy lots of stuff in the shop while they are waiting).

Goes without saying toilets would be availible, I would do this even if it was just a shop.

I was thinking about the food and there is a tearoom opposite, I thought to save costs on making a kitchen suitible I could strike a deal with them to provide sandwich platters and stuff, similarly I would link up with a good local baker for deals on cakes, I even thought about asking the tearoom if they would want the shop to give out vouchers for cheap coffee and cake deals to parents dropping off kids at parties.

Interested to know how much would you actually pay for craft/science sessions where you have to stay with the kids?
EG. Paint a piggy bank/ tea set/ treasure boxes for £5, that is how much the kit would be to buy in the shop, would you rather buy the kit and go home or does it appeal to have all the messy bit done somewhere else? I would probably do cheaper activities I think, themed for time of year perhaps £1/2 pound. e.g. make a badge, christmas tree ornaments, veg printing, balloon power. Perhaps charge more for activities where they involved items like pottery etc.

I would maybe have one off events like juggling/diablo lessons, giant bubble blowing which would be free and used to encourage people in to the shop and buy, we would be selling associated items like diablos, juggling balls, bubble blowers.

Interested to know what you have near you. Is there a great toy shop/ party venue/ craft place where your kids drag you in regularly, whats so good about it? what businesses have you seen fail? what have you seen and not liked? What makes you ooh and ahh and leave with 2 carriers full to bursting?

Shame there aren't any pics of cafe junior, Not sure about paying £1/ £2 per pareson to get in, sounds like the soft play places but nicer if it is good setting and not all plastic covered foam I suppose. There is a family cafe opened in a town near us but it is a cafe with kids tables and a few toys not a play centre, it has a small toy shop area withing that is a big neglected I have to say while they charge about serving food.

What age range are you aiming it at, Skribble?

Does the side room have a separate entrance?

Toy wise i was aiming for the 4 plus market as there seems to be a gaping hole here, loads of pre school. If you are over 5 its all big toys or whatever from Woolies. The price limit would be £5 apart from perhaps Christmas or if we started doing more science/ nature kits. The name has been morphing into "The Pocket Money Place over the past year as this was our byline but describes better what we sell now that we don't do as much sweets.

I think for activity sessions I would do stuff for babies and toddlers through the day, it would be daft not to, what with all these aimless mums wandering about looking for discarded shopping lists . At weekends we would probaby do duel sessions with options for over and under 4/5 yrs. Up to about 10/11 years.

Side room doesn't have a seperate entry.
The shop is double fronted, main area is 63sq m, side room 15sq m. The side room is open to main area through large doorway (no doors at present) up a couple of stairs (plenty room for a shallow ramp). There is also a back room, not sure of toilets kitshen area, trying to orgainse a visit with friend whilst pretending i have money to do this and childcare honest .

Cafe Junior does sound good actually, if i had the money to kit somewhere out i would be thinking along these lines. I always fancied a sort of Scandinavian styled palce .

Anyway back in reality its much easier to get hold of some second hand tables and chairs and wipe clean table cloths. Using tearoom for catering will negate the need for food consent for shop.

Hmmm. Back when I had toddlers, I would have gone to craft/science style activities with them. Especially if I could have a cup of tea at the same time!

Would pay for a craft party - would make a nice change.

With the side room, you could use it for slightly older kids' activities in the holidays. Eg, my local council advertised skin care sessions, hair styling sessions etc for half a day. Can't remember how much for, but they were booked up within a day!

I wonder how regularly parents would come either through the day with toddlers/ afterschool with older ones and at the week ends.

Would you come to say a free singing/ story session once a week and pay £1 for a under5's craft session too on another day.

The main shop area is too big for me to fit out with shelving straight away and to stock it would cost a fortune. It would certainly cut costs to have a couple of tables and chairs to fill the room up, with artwork on the wall.

I could hire the side room for private birthday parties.

Back to the parties what is the going rate per head for a party including simple food and drink plus activities. Would you pay extra for a juggling/bubble workshop?

Would you like to just hire the room and perhaps buy a craft kit and get on with it yourselves or is the whole point getting someone to orgainse it and do the activities and play the party games?
Is being able to bring your own food a bonus or is it easier for it all to be provided?

I'm just in the process of paying £7.40 per child for a trampolining party (minimum 10 kids). This includes simple, cold food.

Would want it all provided, and someone to do everything!

But some people would like the option to bring own food to cut costs.

Re the parties. I find it easier for food to be provided and definitely for someone to be there as the 'party organiser'. So helpful if you don't have family who can help.

Cafe junior basically looks like really posh ikea. the main selling points (for me) are loads of natural light (cannot stand those aircrft hangers), its small enough that you can see the kids easily, there's no playground type equipment (ie not just softplay) so a. its a change b. they don't get too hyper, food/coffee is good quality (I am fed up with Nescafe at kids play areas) and good value family membership.

I know they paid around £500,000 in start up and have a backer. I'm pretty sure they're raking it in. Its a real Cardiff institution.

Not really suggesting you copy them (though I think they have franchise ops) but that making things nice + bright + posh has paid off for them.

Agree the entrance fee is steep though, if you're not a member.

Interesting point about some people not having family to help, never really thought about that as i have a whole hoard to help out inc bouncer, DJ, caterer. As we are both nursery nurses it come quite naturally to us to take charge of a group of kids and paly games etc, friend is very creative and will probably paint entire place with murals.

Thanks for the info about Cafe Junior I love seeing how other places work (or don't work). I have traveled for miles just to pop into a sweet shop or toy shop I have heard about.

I think the kind of people that pay for parties/ crafts etc will appreciate a clean bright wholesome type place, there are plenty greasy spoons where you can sit with moaning baby in buggy while you smoke 20 fags and eat a fried egg roll. Nothing wrong with fried egg rolls mind .

I think you need to establish what other music and story sessions run in the area - some mums will remain loyal for subsequent children. Also make a nominal charge to include the session plus drink and snack, otherwise your revenue will be very low. I like the craft party idea but would suggest from h and s and time points of view that you might prefer not to cater them yourselves, other than in a very basic form (ie boxes with prepacked stuff, perhaps as a pick'n mix type menu for the part giver to choose form in advance , like in Debenhams) and drinks. Similarly have a "package" type menu for parties so fixed price per child , minimum x number, with different levels of service - rent of room only, room and craft activity , craft + face painting and so on. Also how about charging for advertising space within the shop for entertainers, local events , preschools etc. You may well have to conform to fairly stringent H and S and Ofsted standards if children are potentially to be left on the premises so take those costs into account upfront in your calculations.

Thanks LIZS, I know to do any kind of catering I would have to satisfy environmental health and planning to get food consent. Thats why I would hope to link up with ajacent tearoom and see if they would do sandwich platters or kids boxes. I like the idea of offering advertising space to appropriate busineses. Always pictured a huge rocking horse in the middle of the shop loaned free by the craftsmen of course in exchange for commision on any sales through the shop .

I don't want to get to much into the craft cafe type thing more of a toyshop with come and try sessions and definatly not a creche/ childcare facility. That would cost a fortune to comply witht the regs required for that.