Following on the back of a decent Valentine’s Day and marvelous Mother’s Day, the trade’s hopes were pinned on it being a cracking Easter.
While the run-up to the Easter weekend proved lucrative for many, in some quarters the soaring temperatures on the actual holiday weekend quashed the appetite for shopping who chose to lap up the rays away from the high streets.
“Our Easter card sales ended up on a par with last year, which was not bad considering the drop in footfall over the Easter weekend,” confirmed James Taylor, director of Cardzone, which trades from 100 card shops.
Echoing the views held by many indies, Fiona Trees, owner of Memorable Moments in Ripon said “Easter was disappointing to be honest. The couple of weeks leading up to it were quite busy but the actual Bank Holidays were poor. The weather definitely played a part, it was glorious. The tourist attractions round us were rammed but the town centre was quiet.”
That said, Easter card sales in Memorable Moments have “been steadily growing over the last few years, this year sales peaked on Monday 15 April,” says Fiona. Her best sellers were from Wendy Jones-Blackett and Katie Phythian. Noticing an encouraging trend, Fiona believes “younger people are now buying Easter cards whereas it used to be the older generations. Some commented that it was a nice excuse to contact somebody who they don’t see very often (similar to Christmas).”
Easter trade painted a similar picture for Olivia Reilly, owner of Little Boat Gifts in Brightlingsea, Essex said: “We had a good lead up to Easter with many of our Easter decorations selling out. Easter cards too are definitely becoming more popular. We added a mixture of ranges this year, with a focus on blank cards, as we know many people see it as another opportunity to drop loved ones a note. However a mixture of sunshine and us being by the coast meant that the actual Easter weekend was quieter than normal as people headed to make the most of beach!”
Jo Webber, owner of Jo Amour in Tiverton is certainly a ‘happy bunny’ with her shop’s Easter trading, rewarded for her #bunnyshopping campaign that she ran on Instagram and Facebook in the two weeks leading up to the event, that featured the wide selection of cards, gifts, books and fashion in fun and engaging ways.
“Our Easter trading week was very positive, as we sell fashion mixed with cards and gifts the sunshine was a bonus for us and a great boost to our summer clothing sales,” said Jo.
Top: A portion of a Wendy Jones-Blackett Easter card, one of the top selling publishers for Memorable Moments in Ripon.
