Independent shops destroyed as brand bridge supply

Jelikat plush toys have been lining the walls on rumors in whitbies for more than two decades.

Many times, he has taken one third of the total shelf space of the North Yorkshire gift shop. “They have always been a good seller,” the manager who said, whose father is the owner of the store.

But last month, Mr. Oral received an email, which he could not “believe much”.

British soft toy company Jelikat told him that it would no longer supply rumors. It did not give a reason.

“We were completely glowing,” said Mr. Oreel. The sale of the brand toys made a “important part” of the shop income.

The BBC spoke to the owners and managers of four independent shops who said they were hurt and surprised when Jelikat suddenly said it would stop supplying them.

“Unfortunately we are not able to support every shop that wants to stock our products and after much careful considering, we recently reviewed our relationship with some shops,” Jelikat said in a statement. It placed this figure at 100 stores in the UK.

“We are really grateful to his historical support and wish him a wishes for the future,” adding it, still supplying it about 1,200 independent stores.

Children’s cloth shop Puddle was selling Jelikat toys for 20 years in Digal near Oldham.

Owner Alison McKebe said that the brand had “actually removed” in popularity in the last one year, and in a few weeks it sold hundreds of items. She said that she would be “submerged” with the messages of customers, asking which items were in her shop.

But, after the months of difficulty in holding stock, Jelikat contacted him in mid -June, stating that it would no longer supply it.

Emails for stockists who were cutting, were sent on June 18 and in addition to the shop names, seem to be the same in the material. The owners and managers were not addressed by the name, instead addressed the “Jelikat Stockist” with emails.

Email to Mr. Oral, who was watched by the BBC, said, “We regret you to tell you that, after carefully considering, we will no longer supply jelikat products for rumors.” It belonged to its “brand height strategy”, the couple.

“Please do not order more because they won’t complete,” the email continued. “Our decision to abolish the business relationship is final and not open to negotiation.”

Jelikat did not explain in email why he cut the businesses.

Mrs. McKebe said, “We can only think that we are not quite good,”

Another group of store owners, Jelikat, says that one in 1,200 is still being supplied, it was told that they would not be what Jelikat called Jelikat “official stockist”, but their accounts were “unaffected”. The BBC understands that this means that Jelikat will still supply them with stock, where they are available, but they will not be given an official jelikat stockist sticker to display them in their shop window.

Erica Stahl included in the group, the owner of Pippin, was a gift shop in Edinburgh. She told the BBC that she was “speechless” when she reads the email and chose to close her account.

Jelikat told the BBC: “We choose our stockists carefully so that we know that customers will get a joyful experience in their stores, and therefore Jelikat letters can be found in the whole country.”

Shop owners reported that the toys of BBC Jelikat were always a stable vendor, purchased as a gift for newborns or to save pocket money by children. Then, in the last summer, the brand bounced popularity.

The owners of the store credited it to the toys that became extremely popular on Tikokkok and Instagram, in which collectors showed their display.

Jelikat toys have also been a growing trend between “kidalts” – adults with a strong interest in toy and childish almanac, such as Lego and Sunny Angels dolls.

In recent years, Jelikat has become increasingly focused on the dramaticness of presenting its products, with a large “immersive” display at some large department stores.

In the selfies in London, toys are displayed around a show -off fish and chip van and wrapped by employees like a distant.

Jelikat also opened a “dinner” in the city of New York and a “tastisari” in Paris – in all the soft colors of blue, with a neatly arranged toy shelves, which fans began to post on social media.

The brand stated that the presentation was only a factor that is considered when reviewing the partnership with the shops. Jelikat also told the BBC that he had visited all his independent stores.

However, with an increase in the popularity of Jelikat, the availability of stocks changed, the shop owners said.

In the last 12 months, since the toys had exceeded an online trend, Mr. Orrel said that the stock would only reach “Dribes and Durbs” and his shop had to reduce the size of its jelikat display. Whatever was available, the collectors going to their store were getting “more and more disappointed”.

Andrew Canian, co-owner of Jake Hanson, a department store near Wigan, said he would wait months for some orders, or he would become incomplete. Customers would travel from around the UK to buy jelikat toys from their stores, but they could not advise customers when the stock was coming because he did not know.

The shop owners and managers said they felt that Jelikat was giving priority to his relationship with large retailers.

“It became almost impossible to order any bestseling stock,” Miss Stall said.

He said, “Small freedom herself is allowed to order only from the list of random mismatch obstacles and ends that large shops did not want clearly,” she said.

Charlotte Strey of Kidel Nursery in Hampshire agreed. He said that independent shops were “pushed behind the queue” for stocks.

When Keydell Nurseries received a letter in June, he said that Jelikat would no longer supply it, “We were not happy, but we were disappointed in the eight months of supply in the last six, eight months,” said Mrs. Strey.

“We are expanding their supply as both types of shops – small independent and national retailers – overall,” Jelikat told the BBC. “It is a challenge to keep all our partners well stock, and we are constantly working behind the curtain how we plan, how to allocate and distribute the stock, as we can.”

The company said that the independent store “will be as important in our future as they have been in our past”.

Mrs. Strey stated that by cutting some stockists, the jelikat was “crushing the independent store”, who had supported the brand from the beginning and trusted her for a large part of her sales.

Customers have said that they are not happy that how Jelikat has treated independent stores, with negative comments, the brand’s recent social media posts have been flooded. A Post Miss Stahl, stating about Jelikat on her shop’s Instagram account, is that she does not qualify as an “official stockist”, almost 50,000 choice, many commentators criticized the brand conduct.

“I think they have really disappointed themselves,” 38 -year -old Bex Christenson, a photographer from Hell Yorkshire told the BBC. She has been collecting jelikat toys for more than 20 years and “it has always been from independent stores”, she said.

Bex also buys toys for her two children and guesses that, between them, they have about 100 jellycat toys at home.

“As a buyer, it has become really difficult because my children love it – but it has left really sour taste in my mouth,” he said. “Jelikat enhanced independent businesses.”

Jelikat told the BBC that it was doing more than ever to support the independent stores with whom he works, and planning new initiatives and campaigns.

The BBC store said that they are going to stock different luxurious toys instead.

Mr. Oral is optimistic about the future of his business.

“We will definitely live,” he said. “We’ve been going for a very long time compared to Jelikat. We are not very worried.”