Specialist greeting card and gift shops are full steam ahead in readying to hopefully re-open in less than a fortnight, reflected in greeting card printer Windles seeing a surge in orders for the PPE Medi-Visors the Thame-based business has been manufacturing as part of its ‘war effort’. (https://www.pgbuzz.net/card-trade-urged-to-help-windles-get-ppe-visors-where-needed/)
As soon as the Prime Minister Boris Johnson gave the tentative go-ahead recently for ‘non-essential retailers’ to re-open on June 1 (which is looking more possible with the recent announcement of the track-and-trace developments), many card and gift shops immediately ratcheted up their plans and provisions to open their doors to the public, having been shut March. Their preparations have included placing orders with Windles for the transparent visors the company has been making on a not-for-profit basis for frontline workers – including members of the NHS, care home workers, teachers as well as those in retail, among others.
As Michelle Mills, Windles’ business development and marketing manager told PG Buzz: “While we are proud to be providing our Medi-Visors to the NHS and other care workers, we are also delighted to be part of the greeting card community’s opening up as lockdown eases.”
In addition to having supplied UKG and Hallmark with Medi-Visors for their respective merchandising teams (https://www.pgbuzz.net/with-safety-precautions-in-place-ukg-re-starts-merchandising-supermarkets-card-displays/), a raft of leading independent retailers and agents have also placed their orders for the protective face masks.
House of Cards, Postmark, Smart Ideas, All Wrapped Up, Serendipity, Celebration Store, Mooch, Southbourne Cards and Churchs Newsagents are among the far-sighted card retailers to have provisioned themselves with the visors.
Two card publishers cum retailers – Ohh Deer and Milkwood/Whistlefish have also made sure they can be visor-ed up.
Agents Beth and Niall Robson, and Rosie Trow have also placed orders for themselves and their customers. Rosie has gone a step further and turned her creative talents to embellishing her visors with faux flowers, gems and ribbons.
“I fully accept we need to ensure that stay safe, and the visors are not only great protection, but are much better than the material face masks in enabling full visibility of facial expression. They are also very comfortable, so much so that I forgot I was wearing one, not a good idea when you go to sip your mug of tea!” admits Rose.
The Windles non-for-profit Medi-Visors are available at two price points, £2.75 per unit for a box of 25 visors, and £2.50 per unit for 900 visors per bulk pallet. Either includes delivery to a UK address.
Anyone interested should contact Windles’ Michelle Mills on Michelle.Mills@windles.co.uk or call her on 07787 326 888
Top: Yvonne Dobbins, one of UKG’s regional merchandise manager in her Windles-manufactured Medi-Visor.
