Greetings from sunny Sheffield.
It's all go, lots of things are happening. As I write two (long lost) containers from Indonesia are arriving, and the guys are putting up a sign in the warehouse.
That sign has history.. (more below).
Last week I was telling you about the time I went to the wild west woodwork town of Saharanpur in Northern India.. you can read about it here.
Hope you had a good bank holiday.. and now the weather is looking good, that should hopefully help the giftshops in destination locations..
And with Father's Day almost upon - now is the time to market the Dad Gifts..
Dad Gifts are always a bit tricky to source although I feel in recent years there are more really good wholesalers producing better and cooler gifts for Dad's everywhere.. At AW we got you covered.. and plus this weekend to give you an helping hand we got FREE (or if you live in the sticks discounted) Shipping.
Brits I read, spend over £20 billion a year whilst on foreign holidays.. that's a lot of jugs of Sangria or Italian Pasta or Greek plate smashing.. The Green List is a joke list. Of the countries on the Green list.. only two are actual letting us in - down to one - Gibraltar - from Tuesday.. and the Rock is a nice place but hardly room to swing a cat.
I mean why even put Australia on the Green list? - you can't go anyway.. When everyone vulnerable has been jabbed or double jabbed, when those countries such as Greece or Spain are delighted to have us.. something doesn't stack up in my mind.
But when Brexit is punching a big hole in country balance sheet (that can't all be blamed on covid), why not divert some of that £20 billion to UK shores? Wow.. It's a cunning plan.. but Boris just throw the poor travel agents and airline industries under the bus to do it.
Sorry - I'm doing it again.. Ranting on a Friday.. Must try to look on the bright side.. at least it will be good for the holiday retail trade and give our hotels a much needed boost.
Meanwhile at AW Spain a long term project has just come to fruition.. and it's totally a new and refreshing direction for AW.. Toni our man in Spain and his designer helper Graciela have been putting there heart and soul into it and have been drinking rather a lot recently. Actually while I was in Spain - I also was drinking rather too much.. and the fruit of all that supping has finally made it online..
It's not what you think...
It was a long time ago that Tomas first floated the idea.. after seeing a busy shop in Bratislava town centre, selling herbal tea as if it was aromatherapy.. you know tea to help you sleep, a tea blend that's good for stress, tea as a slimming aid.. And all the tea pots, strainers and cups to go with it. Tea is imported from China, India, Sri Lanka and Morocco into Spain and then blended with local flavours to create herbal blends.. so we have been working closely with a company based in Malaga to make our range of Herbal Teas we call AW Artisan Tea.. Check it out here.. (WARNING - DO NOT ORDER IT).. Normally (before Brexit) it would already be in shipped to the UK and online ready for you.. these days supply lines are massively more complicated.. But it is on the way hopefully in a few weeks we can have it online in the UK. I really believe this could be a huge gift retail opportunity - gift packs and hampers, a whole new department in your store.. and importantly... bringing repeat customers back into our store (or website) for refills.
The sign.. that sign now hanging at the end of our warehouse - was on the warehouse that we lost in a fire last July.. regular readers will know the story.. We lost everything except the sign and the Buddha.. our name (the sign) and our values represented by the Buddha. Now the Buddha sits at the entrance to Affinity Park welcoming everyone and the sign above us as we work.. .
Another thing that is happening is a new department I'll tell you more later.. But if you need storage space for pallets of goods at a reasonable price we can help, soon we can even distribute your products.
Check out: AW-Fulfilment.co.uk
So have a great weekend, happy (and safe) trading.
PS:
Ash, our new guy in the Marketing Dept is breathing new life into our social media.. Join us on Instagram and
Facebook and let us know what you like, what you want.. give us feedback and ideas..