Christmas Greetings from Spain
This dear friends is the last proper newsletter of 2020.
And what an Epic, Traumatic, Overwhelming, Sad, Joyful, Stressful, Triumphant... if there is one word that describes 2020.. it's probably one my mother would not approve of..
Everyone has had one hell of a year, I know many of you have lost loved ones, have struggled with covid hit business, have had to face unmanaged challenges. But together it is possible to pull through and even dare I say it be stronger and thrive.
If you have been following this newsletter you will know something of this extraordinary, unbelievable year at AW.
Last week I was telling you not to worry.. we have a Brexit plan.. You can read about it here.
This week if you will indulge me I'd like to share the 2020 AW journey with you.. below.
But first - some good news - a massive backlog of containers and stock deliveries have arrived at our warehouse in Sheffield. We have been seriously struggling to keep many products in stock for all the reasons you well know about, but this week we are happy to have lots of best selling lines back in stock.. containers and shipments from EU suppliers ahead of Brexit came, two more containers from China, one from India, one from Indonesia.
I can confidently say we are Lock Stocked and Loaded ready for the 2021 season of love - the sales, the run upto Valentines day, Mothers day, Easter (which could be a mini Christmas) and fathers day.. The season of love, we call it.. and AW is dare I say your best supplier at this time. Check out the deals below. We can take orders upto 3pm on Tuesday 22nd December for dispatch this year. After that we will dispatch in the new year, your order placed early will mean early dispatch.
January
My 60th birthday was perfect, surrounded by my friends, family including Coco, Tomas and Katka from AW and our new friends from AW Artisan Spain. A nice meal in Sinbad's restaurant on the beachside, a lovely day all sat together at a long table (do you remember doing that) enjoying good food and wine chatting and enjoying each other's company. My idea of a perfect time. One small shadow.. Mario, who is our company administrator in Spain, complained of feeling strange, the perfect gentleman he is, he joined us for the meal but insisted in not hugging and kissing all and sundry as usual - and placed himself at the end of the table and slightly away. He spent ten days in bed after with a mysterious illness, it was quite some time before he was back to full health - he is convinced he was an early victim. Two days later, I dropped my wife Coco at Malaga airport, she was heading home to China for Chinese new year. The plan was that I would go to Indonesia, India and then to meet back up in China in six weeks. Little did I know this was the last time I would see Coco this year..
February
Late Jan and early Feb is spent in the UK at AW HQ.. planning the future, working out what products to focus on to delight our customers - I'm especially excited about our new dropshipping website.
AW doesn't do tradeshows, but we did showcase our Agnes and Cat brand at the Spring Fair in Birmingham. I drove down to visit the team and see how it was going. Coronavirus was just beginning to raise its ugly head, notices on the entrance if I remember asking recent visitors to China to get a temperature check. Nobody had any idea what was about to unfold.
7th of Feb I fly to Kuala Lumpur. Meetings with our Pakistani salt lamp suppliers, a father and son business. Also working all hours to get the dropshipping website finished with Raul the IT wizard who works out of KL.
I notice people in the streets wearing masks, The hotel I stay at checks everyone's temperature, supplies hand gel, and strictly only allows registered and guests into the lobby. There is an air of panic.
10th Feb the Dropshipping site is launched..
11th Feb - I take the flight to Bali.. Ringo meets me at the airport.
The next two weeks are spent in a whirlwind of activity - recently moved to a new warehouse, I also want to make it the most beautiful warehouse in Bali..
While we are working, the covid crisis is slowly becoming apparent, but no panic, people selling homemade masks on street corners, government posters already advising keeping distance and washing hands (this is way ahead of the UK).
26th Feb I fly to Kolkata, India. Flights are normal - no special measures. Check into the Swisshotel close to the airport in the early hours of the 27th.
In the morning meet up for breakfast with Tomas - who arrived earlier and Mr Chatterjee, our man in India. It's great to be back in India.
March
We stay at the newly opened Denmark Tavern, a restored heritage hotel on the banks of the Ganges. We visit the children's home that AW supports, news of the pandemic is coming but we still high five all the kids.
Later fly to Delhi to meet a whole range of suppliers, it's hard work. Deep in the crammed and busy back streets of old Delhi building new relationships. I do remember thinking if a virus gets loose in here it could be hell.
Rumours that India will close the airports and lockdown, seem fanciful at this stage.
We fly down to Goa for a few days' rest and to meet our gemstones guy, who comes from nearby Mumbai.
Flights are being cancelled. There is panic buying of masks, all the Japanese and Chinese tourists are wearing masks. Allsorts of rumours. Tomas and I decide maybe it is time to cut short the India trip - we manage to get a flight back to KL via Bengaluru.
Our flight to China has been cancelled, so we decide to go back to Bali, and see what happens. Anyway Tomas wants to see the new warehouse and has lots of product ideas.
We escaped India it turns out just in time.. days later all flights are cancelled.
By late March - it's all kicking off.. Tomas decides it's time to go back to the UK, and he actually gets out of Bali on the last flight before lockdown. I stay hoping to find a way to go to China, or at the very least for Coco to come to Bali.
April
Lockdown in UK.. Sales drop dramatically. I'm trapped in Bali (which honestly could be worse). But tough decisions have to be made. We furlough most of the staff. Katka throws herself into making AW as covid safe as possible for the remaining staff.
It's bleak.. we are making survival plans. All the shops are closed, how long can we survive? Will our customers' businesses survive? I call and ask all our landlords for discounted rent, they all help - the new landlords in Spain (who are Chinese) give us 100% discount until whenever this is over.
Sad news, my Father passed away, coronavirus - he was always there to help at AW, for a while a non executive director and always a wise advisor - a strange zoom memorial service.
May
My hotel in Bali closes down. There are no tourists left, I'm the only customer. So I need to find somewhere to stay, and new government regulations stop hotels from accepting new guests, I'm almost homeless in Bali.
Meanwhile in UK we are making soap like crazy, devising our own AW hand sanitisers. Tomas is working on designs for a range of face masks, Coco in China looking for suppliers. The new dropshipping site is booming.
Amazingly, sales are picking up.. so we start taking staff back off furlough.
I'm happy developing lots of new products with Ringo in Bali. We also make beautiful new offices and staff rooms at the warehouse.
June
What happened? Tomas and the team are working twelve hour days, the aromatics factory is at full stretch. Extra shifts, so we can keep covid distance. It's all go, we have gone from bust to boom in the space of a month.
June which is normally the quietest month of the year at AW turns out to be the best on record. 85% up. Lots of our switched on customers are moving to online sales, dropshipping goes crazy. We pay back all the rent to our landlords. Everyone except the vulnerable are taken off furlough. Where possible staff are working from home, covid restrictions and work pressure means everyone is exhausted.
Meanwhile Bali is like the Garden of Eden, no planes, no tourists, a gentle, green quiet place. Locals delighted to do business with us. I'm ashamed to say I was having a lovely lockdown.
At the end of June all the management at AW are sending each other well done emails.. in my last newsletter of June.. I write about how busy it's been.. and I quote..
"Of course we are thankful for the business, a few weeks ago it seemed like the world would fall in. Who knows what the future holds.. Stay safe please, wear a mask.
Enjoy the weekend".
July
3rd of July, I will never forget being woken by Whatapp at 7am and seeing Tomas's tear stained face framed by a massive fire. "David it's over, it's over"
Our main warehouse, factory and head office were engulfed in a huge fireball. Parkwood business park is on top of a hill, the whole of Sheffield could see the fire, one of the largest ever in Sheffield.
A eurobin in the carpark had self combusted at 11.23pm by midnight the fire had spread to the room where we kept the essential oils, which had spread to the area we were making hand sanitisers, alcohol in 1000kg containers. There was a massive fireball explosion which a hot summer wind that night blowing exactly the right direction blew the fire like the bellows in a furnace through the warehouse block. All captured on the car park CCTV system. In two hours despite the fire brigade arriving in minutes it was a burned out shell.
A rest in peace AW facebook page emerged the next day. Everyone assumed it was over.
9th July I managed to get on the international single flight out of Bali. On the 10th Tomas picked me up at Manchester airport, and drove me to see the devastation.
We had already made a recovery plan. Are we going to let this thing beat us? Or are we going to turn it around?
Within the week we had a dispatch department in operation,website revamped and was back in business.. the rebuild had started.
By a stroke of luck the Facemasks had been delayed by two days and arrived after the fire - turned out to be a huge best seller.
August
The big search for a new warehouse.. the stress that the insurance company may not pay out.. re-ordering, rebuilding managing with almost no space in our surviving warehouse.
All credit to the AW Heros, almost everyone pulled together, working amazingly well. Rebuildin