Independent shops devastated as brand pulls supply

Jellycat Plush toys have been covering the walls in the rumors in Whitby for more than twenty years.

Sometimes they bought one third of the total shelf area of the North Yorkshire Gift shop. “They’ve always been a good seller,” said Joe Orrell, the owner of the store.

However, last month, Mr. Orrell received an e -mail that he could not fully believe.

Jellycat, a British soft toy company, said he would no longer give rumors. It did not provide a reason.

“We were definitely encouraged,” Mr. Orrell said. The sales of the toys of the brand created a “important part of the shop of the shop.

When the BBC said that Jellycat suddenly stopped supplying them, the owners and managers of four independent stores who said they were injured and surprised.

Jellycat said in a statement, “Unfortunately, we cannot support every store that wants to stock our products and we examined our relationship with some stores after being evaluated very carefully.” He said. He put this figure in 100 stores in the UK.

Uz We are really grateful for their historical support and wish them the best for the future, dedi he said, still provided about 1,200 independent stores.

Puddleducks, a children’s clothing store in Diggle near Oldham, has been selling Jellycat toys for nearly 20 years.

The owner Alison McCabe said that the brand was “really out of popularity last year and sold hundreds of products for several weeks. He said that his customers’ store will “remain underwater” with messages asking which products in stock.

However, after what he described as the months of difficulty in seizing stocks, Jellycat said he would no longer supply him with him in mid -June.

E -mails were sent to the cut stockists on 18 June and seems to be the same as content other than the shop name. Owners and executives were not handled with the name, but instead E -mail addressed a “Jellycat Stockist”.

“We are sorry that we will not supply Jellycat products to rumors after carefully evaluated.” He said. This was about the “brand height strategy”.

“Please do not order more because they will not be fulfilled.” He continued: “Our decision to conclude the business relationship is definite and is not open to negotiation.”

Jellycat did not explain why he cut things in the mail.

“We can just think we’re not good enough, Mrs Mrs. McCabe said, and added that she doesn’t know if she could encourage Jellycat to start supplying again.

Another store owner who said that Jellycat was still between 1,200, where Jellycat said, was told that Jellycat would not be what he calls “official stockist”, but his accounts were not “affected”. The BBC realizes that this means that Jellycat will still provide stock in places where it is available, but it will not give them an official Jellycat stockist label to display them in shop windows.

In Edinburgh, Erica Stahl, the owner of Pippin, a souvenir shop in Edinburgh. He told the BBC that he was “silent” while reading E -Post and chose to close his account.

Jellycat told BBC: “We carefully choose our stockists to know that customers will get a cheerful experience in their stores, so that Jellycat characters can be found throughout the country.”

Store owners said that BBC Jellycat’s toys are always a stable seller, that they were purchased as a gift to newborns or that they were purchased by children providing pocket allowances. Then last summer brand won popularity.

Store owners showed this to toys, which made it very popular on Tiktok and Instagram.

Jellycat toys have also been a growing tendency between “Children” – adults with a strong interest in toys and childish efemerea like Lego and Sonny Angels Dolls.

In recent years, Jellycat has focused on the theatricality of offering its products with large “immersive” screens in some large stores.

In Selfridges in London, toys are displayed around a imitation fish and chipset van and hugging by the staff as a purchase.

Jellycat also opened a “restaurant” in New York and a “patisserie” in Paris – all of them in blue blue tones, with the shelves of properly arranged toys, where fans began to publish on social media.

The brand said that the presentation was just a factor where the presentation was taken into consideration when examining the partnerships with stores. Jellycat also told BBC that he visited all his independent stores in person.

However, Jellycat said that with the increase in popularity, he made changes in the presence of stocks.

For about the last 12 months, since the toys have become a more online trend, Mr. Orrell said that the stock would come only as “Dribs and boring” and that the shop has to reduce the size of the Jellycat screen. Collectors who visited the store were “more disappointed” with the present.

Andrew Kenyon, a co -owner of Jak Hanson, a store near Wigan, said he would wait for months or not for some orders. Customers would travel from the UK to buy Jellycat toys from their store, but they did not advise customers about when the stock arrived.

Store owners and executives, Jellycat felt that they give priority to their relations with larger retailers.

“It has become almost impossible to order any of the best -selling stocks.” He said.

“Small independents like me are allowed to order from the list of randomly non -matching rates and ends that large shops do not explicitly want.” He said.

Charlotte Stray, one of the Keydell nurseries in Hampshire, accepted. He said that the independent stores were “pushed behind the tail” for the stock.

Keydell nursery said that Jellycat would no longer supply in June, “We were not happy, but in the last six, eight months we were disappointed during the supply,” he said.

Jellycat, in his statement to the BBC, “Both stores – small independent and national retailers – we generally increase our supply to the same rate.” He said. “Keeping all our partners well stocked continues to be a challenge and we are constantly behind the stage to improve our way of planning, allocating and presenting the stock as fair and thoughtful as possible.”

The company said independent stores will continue to be “as important as in our past”.

Ms. Stray, some stockists by cutting Jellycat’s brand from the very beginning and relying for a large part of their sales “independent stores crushed”, he said.

Customers said that they were not satisfied with how Jellycat behaved in independent stores, and negative comments inundated the brand’s latest social media broadcasts. A post Miss Stahl has approximately 50,000 likes about Jellycat that his shop is not described as a “official stockist” on his Instagram account and criticizes the behavior of many commentators.

“I think they disappointed themselves,” 38 -year -old Bex Christensen, a photographer from Nork Yorkshire. He said. Jellycat has been collecting toys for more than 20 years and said, “He’s always coming from independent shops.”

The bex also buys toys for two children and estimates that there are about 100 Jellycat toys at home.

“As a buyer, it really made it harder because my children love him – but he really left a sour taste in my mouth.” He said. “Jellycat independent businesses have grown.”

Jellycat said that he did more than ever before to support the independent stores he worked with, and that he planned new initiatives and campaigns.

BBC’nin stores, instead of different plush toys will store, he said.

Mr. Orrell is optimistic about the future of his work.

“We will definitely survive,” he said. “We take much longer than Jellycat has. We are very worried.”