After just eighteen months at our little Mort St Hub it was time to move on. Tambo Teddies Toowoomba was literally bursting at the seams, there was no room to swing a teddy bear!
We leased the Mort St premise as a stepping stone, to make sure our Regional Sewing Hub expansion would work. After twelve months we were reaping the benefits of this initiative. We had a stockpile of teddy bears and are able to produce enough teddy bears to keep ahead of the growing demand.
One of the biggest constricting factors we have experienced since purchasing Tambo Teddies has been supply, being able to make enough Teddy Bears. This was forefront in our minds when we partnered with Multicultural Development Australia to source sewers for the Hub.
Staff are key to our business, the staff at the Hub have been constant for the past eighteen months. Consistency of staff was a key to the Hub succeeding, a constant change over in personnel, constant training would have substantially reduced the positive outcomes for the business.
So a bigger space was required and the hunt was on. Alison and Tammy viewed several properties on their way back from the Sydney Gift Fair in February but went home and continued the hunt online.
Eventually, the Water St property came into our sights and Alison viewed it on a trip to Toowoomba at the end of March. We decided to purchase the property in partnership with our husbands for the business to lease from us. After a long settlement period, due to all the unknown factors thrown at us by the COVID-19 pandemic we finally started moving in on Friday August 7. Settlement finally occurred on Wednesday August 12th.
Moving in was a whirlwind. The men borrowed a truck and shifted the Hub in just three loads. A tilt tray was hired and the shipping container was bought in and quickly unloaded with our new (second hand) forklift. Power was connected and the electricians set up power points, new lights and all the equipment was tested and tagged. On Wednesday our new signage was erected and talk about stand out from the crowd – you can’t miss us!
There is a large showroom where sewing, cutting and packing orders will happen and by next year we aim to set up a dedicated retail section. New ducted air-conditioning will soon be installed to ensure a pleasant climate all year round. In the storage area pallet racking and shelving will soon be installed which will ensure everything is well organised and easy to locate.
It has been a pretty full-on couple of weeks but things are settling down. Bonnie and her team are getting into the swing of the new space and pumping out the bears and orders. Come along and check out Tambo Teddies new Toowoomba Regional Sewing Hub.