The Entertainer has seen sales dive by 75% after being forced to close all its stores due to COVID-19, and has subsequently changed their business model to become online-only, converting an existing warehouse into a space to serve home deliveries with physical distancing measures for staff.
Gary Grant, the chain’s founder and chairman, who is yawning after long days battling to try to keep his family business alive, says: “We have 173 shops in the UK and now our only sales channel is the internet. Sales are down by three quarters despite a 10% rise online.”
The company is experiencing Black Friday levels of demand but cannot meet them as its warehouse is only operating at 40% capacity because of the measures to keep staff safe. “We are not going to sit back and let an opportunity pass us by but we can’t suddenly change in a week,” says Grant.
The first news of the virus reached Grant after Christmas when there were concerns in China about workers returning to work after their new year holiday.
“In January and February we were dealing with a broken supply chain,” he says. Deliveries were delayed and he spent two or three weeks trying to secure enough stock for Easter. But by the end of February it was becoming clear the virus could have a much wider impact, as parts of China went into lockdown.
Sales at The Entertainer’s larger city-centre stores began to drop and Grant said he took the hint from what was happening overseas: “If China had closed its shops, we realised that could happen to us.” By mid-March sales in some stores had fallen by as much as half. While small local outlets were holding up and online trade was brisk, that didn’t compensate for the loss of trade in large outlets.
Grant decided to run a “buy one get one free” sale, which brought in lots of cash to help underpin the business in the week before the government announced the high street shutdown.
“Our business is 39 years old but there was a period of time we were unsure if there was a future,” he says.
Weeks into the lockdown, The Entertainer has changed the way it operates, with only a skeleton staff in the office. Hundreds of staff have been furloughed, spending plans have been cancelled and all unnecessary costs cut. Grant says government support, including a business rates holiday and tax delays, have been vital in keeping the business alive.
The future became slightly clearer on Monday when the government outlined a plan for how the lockdown might ease in stages. In a 60-page document, the government said the intention was to allow non-essential retailers to reopen shops in phases from 1 June – as long as they could follow the “Covid-19 secure guidelines”.
Read the article in full here. The Entertainer has helped bring lots of hard-to-find Hasbro Star Wars product into the UK over the last 18 months, all at competitive pricing, and should be supported by UK fans.
