The unexpectedly high temperatures in May proved to be both a boost and a mixed blessing for coastal and tourist gift independents.
“Being situated by the coast the minute the warmer weather started we saw an increase in sales,” confirmed Olivia Reilly, owner of Little Boat Gifts in Brightlingsea. “Our customers fall into two categories – visitors looking for souvenir pieces and locals getting their beach huts ready for the summer. Anything seaside themed works well, particularly hanging decorations and seaside signs. In Brightlingsea anything with beach huts and boats on is a winner!”
Brighton too, had its fair share of good weather.“We loved the weather in May but it didn’t really make any difference one way or another to our sales, as we are lucky that Brighton is always busy in May due to the Brighton Festival which runs throughout the whole month,” comments Bob England, owner of England At Home in Brighton. “The downside of this is that shoppers are distracted by the things on offer in addition to shopping. Having said that, our figures were slightly up on last year which we attributed to the fact that, for the first time, we were the official outlet of Brighton Festival merchandise which helped raise our profile. We obviously adapted our displays to reflect both this and the lovely weather. Our summer season products got off to a good start and we also brought in a few lines a little earlier than we might have done.”
Adds Emma Woodward, director, Aspire Style, which has five lifestyle outlets: “It was a tough start to the year with snow and heavy rain, especially over Easter which is historically when we start to see a good uplift in sales. Therefore the arrival of the sunshine in May was very welcome! We do very well with our dresses and tops in summer, and jewellery is also popular for tourists looking for gifts to take home. Our Stratford-upon-Avon store is particularly benefiting from tourists visiting and making the most of the sunshine.”
Top: The hot May sunshine was welcomed by many gift retailers.
