Oh what a year!
As we sat together in late 2019 to set our goals for 2020, we had no idea what the forthcoming year would dish up. Things didn’t go to plan however we are pleased to report it was another amazing year for Tambo Teddies.
January – We hit the ground running, we had a shipping container of supplies ordered and our 2020 plans were completed and ready to be implemented.
February – We headed to our first trade show in Sydney to grow our group of stockists. But in the background, there was a little disease starting up. The virus shut down China and put our container of skins on hold. Oh dear – will we have enough supplies to keep making bears?????
March – mmmmm……..things were starting to move into the unknown with the entry of the COVID-19 virus into Australia. Many of the contacts we had made in Sydney were closing their doors and moving into a lock down situation. Alison headed to Toowoomba with supplies to keep the Hub going in case we were unable to travel.
April – As the pandemic took hold we were considering ourselves lucky as we were able to keep our doors open, we just needed to implement a COVID cleaning regime. Teddies pivoted quickly, we had a supply of extra skins that we could cut for bears. We also worked on sourcing extra skins wherever we could find them. Work commenced on a new product made from a new material (sliverknit) we can source within Australia.
May through to July – Traffic through the store was quiet but we still welcomed a few customers every day. Meanwhile, a combination of our advertising directing traffic to our website, some lucky social media breaks, media stories and a shift to online shopping meant our online sales took off. Tambo Lambo was launched and online sales kept rocketing. Our shipping container finally arrived!
On a personal note, Kelsea was welcomed into the Tambo Teddy family.
August to September – Queenslanders were able to travel within the State and they headed to the Outback in droves, many needed a Teddy Bear! At the beginning of August we purchased a warehouse in Toowoomba and the Hub relocated to a much larger space.
October – November – We opened retail at the Hub, launched a run of limited edition Spotty Bears and had our Teddy Bear crossing signs stolen in Tambo! But every bad event has a good outcome – we were given a set of new crossing signs.
December – Excitement in Tambo as the builders arrived to renovate. Our 2020 goals had ‘upgrade the Tambo building by the end of 2020’ listed. We just scraped in with that one!
2020 has been a challenge for everyone in one way or another but at Teddies we have continued to thrive.
We are now looking towards 2021 and beyond – working out what will be our next story, next big thing and next adventure!