Retail Industry
Britain loves the idea of small shops. We love market towns. We love independent cafés, bakeries, florists, card shops and bookshops. We love Christmas shopping evenings and beautiful little shopping streets decorated with lights and bunting. We love discovering hidden gems on holiday. We love towns with “character.” At least,
Greeting Card Association
I was really pleased to take part in the GCA / PG Retailer Forum in August 2025, alongside other independent retailers, publishers and industry figures, with PG Buzz later covering the event and the conversations that came out of it. What I valued most about the forum was that it focused
Greeting Card Association
I was honoured to be invited to join the judging panel for the 2025 Henries Awards, widely regarded as the UK’s most prestigious celebration of greeting card design and publishing. As both a greeting card retailer and publisher, it was a real privilege to spend time reviewing such an
Smart Shopkeeper Strategy
One thing my team will tell you very quickly is this: I rarely leave anything alone for long. A display gets adjusted slightly. A sign moves half an inch. A product gets regrouped. A caption changes. A window gets simplified. A price point shifts. A shelf suddenly makes more sense
retas awards
We were incredibly proud to have our Female Founders Month campaign named Best Retailer Initiative at The Retas 2025, a national awards event celebrating the very best of the UK greeting card industry. Not long afterwards, the Leicester Mercury also featured the story, helping share the campaign and award win
Smart Shopkeeper Club
I was really pleased to be featured by PG Buzz in an article titled ‘Sophie’s Boost for Shopkeepers’, recognising some of the work I’ve been doing to support independent retailers through campaigns, ideas and practical resources. The phrase “boost for shopkeepers” actually captured something quite important to me,
Small Shop Summer
I was delighted to see the Small Shop Summer campaign featured in Gifts & Home magazine, helping spread the message and ideas behind a campaign I created to support independent retailers during the quieter summer months. Like many shopkeepers, I’ve always felt that summer can sometimes become a strangely
Smart Shopkeeper Club
They’re not just buying things, they’re choosing us. Let’s make it easy for them do a little bit more Something has become crystal clear to me this year: customers aren’t just buying products, they’re backing people.They’re not passive. They’re not indifferent. They
A free, feel-good campaign for indie retailers that’s easy to use, beautifully designed, and guaranteed to brighten up your summer trade, without burning you out. Have you ever felt like your shop deserves more attention than it gets? Like you’re putting your heart into the window displays,
Summer in retail can feel like a weird pause. Spring seasons are pretty much over. Christmas is ages away. Holiday season kicks off. The kids are off school. The routine disappears. Some shops get quiet. Others are packed. Most of us just try to ride it out. But what if
Smart Shopkeeper Club
If running a big retail store is like captaining a cruise liner, then running your own independent shop is more akin to sailing a tiny boat across an unpredictable ocean. It's easy to overlook just how different these two experiences truly are, especially when we're often
There's plenty of advice out there for people starting businesses, growing businesses, scaling businesses and selling businesses. There is advice for creators, coaches, consultants, influencers, makers and online brands. But what about shopkeepers? I'm talking about real, physical shops. The kind where customers walk through the