SPRING HAS SPRUNG

BIG SPRING ENERGY!

Frank Green is bringing the vibes with their fresh colours - adding a vibrant blast to your work desk.

There's a colour that perfectly matches your personality, energy, mood or occasion. Question is - which new limited edition colour has you feeling 'it'?

BLUNT X FLOX UMBRELLAS

This new collab has us feeling like we are in the NZ rainforest (if only we could be there right now).

Infusing her distinctive trademark style of flora and fauna, FLOX has returned, creating this neon-hued piece of art as part of the Neo Tropica 2023 collection.

Frank Green | Car Cup Holder Expander - Neon Pink | Shut the Front Door

CAR CUP HOLDER

Say goodbye to those awkward bottle balancing acts during your drive – the Car Cup Expander has got your hydration hustle covered.

Slot it into your regular cup holder and BOOM - it expands to fit your Frank Green 34oz/1L bottle.

KEY FEATURES

  • Triple-wall vacuum insulated to keep your drink hot (or cold).
  • Premium stainless steel cup that's durable and made to last.
  • Spill and leak resistant for mess-free travel.
  • BPA free, made from FDA & EU approved safe materials.
  • Lid = dishwasher safe.

Christmas Shopping - my buying trip to fill your Christmas Stockings!

I thought I you might be interested on how the most important buying trip of the year works.   Christmas is a big deal for Shut the Front Door and so buying the stock that you all need to make your Christmas Gift shopping easy is no small feat. It sometimes makes me feel like I am buying Christmas presents for the whole of New Zealand!

The buying exercise is mostly done on a four day shopping trip to Melbourne which I have just returned from. Melbourne hosts 3 major trade shows at this time plus a number of smaller events where artisans and wholesalers display their wares. Just about every retailer in Australia and quite a lot from Melbourne are there all with the aim of filling there stores with stock for Christmas.

The venues range from shiny concrete exhibition centres, 150 year old exhibition buildings with the most exquisite architecture to a graffiti covered old warehouse by the train tracks.
The beautiful Royal Exhibition Hall in Melbourne  

Who would have thought that inside this pretty rough looking building was some beautiful products that will be coming our way!

In preparation for the trip I do lots of work looking at trends, brainstorming ideas and making lists of what we need. I analyse what we sold last year and how many units of everything we need. I make sure we have all the different categories covered with gifts for men, gifts for her, gifts for kids etc etc. Then I put all that in a folder and ignore it and go around buying what I love!!! Probably not so scientific but it seems to work.

The trip involves long days of walking and talking and trying to pick out the awesome nuggets that you will love from a massive amount of average products!

I do this buying alone as I have found over the 15 years I have been a buyer thats what works best as there are no distractions but it does mean you spend the days talking to yourself - Will our customers like this? Have I got everyone covered? Have I got enough? Have I got too much? What have I missed? How will we merchandise this? But in the end you have to remember that you will always make some mistakes…if you don't you haven't taken enough risks!

Here are some photos of a few of our supplier stands that I visited....

     

    Halcyon Nights

You will see everything I have bought on this trip arriving in stores throughout the next few months - hopefully you love it, I bought enough and not too much!!

Look forward to welcoming you all in store to view our amazing collection of Christmas Gifts at Shut the Front Door.


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