German Fair

So we are now back in the office after a week away travelling and visiting Germany for our first European retail show.

We left fairly early, 7:30am to be precise, and started our first road trip of the year! All the preparation was just about finished and the van loaded with stand and stock just hours before we left. Anyway, we did it, obviously with the help of our fantastic, JS team! Thankfully Jane and I spent the entire journey in hysterics and a whole 14 hours later we arrived! 

We got to our first B&B with still an hour and a half to go to the exhibition grounds, Das Fürstliche Gartenfest, Schloss Fasanerie. The first day was our set up day making sure the stand was complete and in pristine condition for all our customers. The show started at 10am each day and we were surrounded by such lovely people, the highlight has to be having a food stand opposite us that also sold prosecco, strawberries and cream! What a bonus! 

We love seeing our customers enjoying our products, even our little ones!

Above is the complete stand, have to say we thought it was a rather lovely, British looking stand! Who would have thought the weather would be so cold too, we ended up wearing most of Carina Hildebrandt's clothing, thank god she over packed!

Here's Carina Hildebrandt's stand. Note; very warm clothing!

So there you have it, the first road trip of the year! Stay tuned for our next adventures...

Top Drawer Trade Show

It’s all go at the moment in the office with Jane and myself getting ready for Top Drawer, just to add, the first trade show we have ever done, no pressure…! 

Jane and John left shortly after 10:30, not quite the 9am they were planning! Everything all prepped and boxed up in the van, how much easier it is planning for Top Drawer rather than the Spirit of Christmas, no stock needed, one of each product, and then just the two of us. 

The first of the pictures I started receiving from Jane, it definitely didn’t look like much when I received this…

Getting there… It’s easy from where I’m sat, at my desk at HQ!

Nearly there…don’t think I’ll mention it sloping along the top!

Think they both deserve the next picture I received…

and it’s complete, rather impressed for the first show this year hopefully many more to come. 

Sunday morning I catch the train up to get ready for the next three days, meeting new potential customers, putting names to faces and looking for new products ourselves. Doesn’t sound like we are going to stop. It is a great show to network with people and really make the most of new products we have available.

Staying in London really adds to the show as I get to catch up with friends that live there, it is so different to where I live, we can actually socialise after 9pm and there are bars and restaurants open! It really makes you feel refreshed for the next day, or not! 

Breaking down after the show is something I have never done before, so I will describe it in one word…easypeasy, not quite one word but so much easier than the Spirit of Christmas breakdown!

Again we have managed to bump into our Spirit of Christmas friends and have brief catch ups before we must all head home, back to HQ’s and to crack on with the workload we have brought back!

-Shannon