Space is at a premium in newsagencies at the moment with the Easter and Mother’s Day seasons colliding in their requirements. Add to this, a binge of partworks releases, the traditional (and large) Easter Book Sale, magazine features to promote and the regular day to day activity in a well run newsagency and, yes, space is in high demand.
We are complicating it is a couple of my stores with a Toy Sale which still has two weeks to run. This has been our second successful Toy Sale in four months.
We are addressing the unusual demands on space over the next few weeks with a process of regular rotation for the two major seasons in play as well as regular rotation for the magazine promotions. This is something we have always done but which is receiving even more attention right now.
As for the glut of partworks, they are not getting the attention we would like. Poor planning on the part of all involved, flooding newsagents like this.
Don’t get me wrong, I am not complaining about the higher than usual demands on space. As retailers we live for opportunities to have our stores full of stock and to show off. I have two core issues: the glut of partworks and the lack of consideration by some suppliers around how much space we give them when we are so busy. No matter, they will get over it.