…looking back at the last 3 months

 Can’t quite work out whether the last 3 months have dragged on or flown by, can you? Easter seems to have come round so quickly and we’re definitely heading into Spring (well, most days!)

As ever, it’s been an eventful start to the year.  Even when it’s quiet in the shop there’s always things to do and plan so never really a dull moment, and when there is, there’s always a cup of tea and a local piece of cake to eat!

Our customers enjoyed our January Sale at the beginning of the year (in January in fact!) with lots of great bargains to be had. I decided not to go to my favourite tradeshow this January, heading for a weekend up north and a sea dip, though of course had FOMO watching everyone’s Instagram stories while they were there. Despite not going, it didn’t mean that we didn’t start to get lots of new stock for the new season. This year we are looking to collaborate with other small businesses too and in January we had our first meeting with local biscuit maker The Biskery to start hatching some plans for the rest of the year.

February saw a whistle stop visit to Spring Fair at the NEC (not helped by not charging the car the night before and having to get back to Leeds for 5pm) so perhaps need to plan better next time! We also held our first workshops of the year, including a lovely private birthday Jesmonite workshop. Our Chirpy customers showed a lot of love this February with a record breaking number of Valentine cards being sold. And I managed to grab a few days off with as little trip to London leaving Chirpy in the hands of my great team Jenna & Lizzie as well as new team member Hannah.

March started with a Double Points weekend in store to thank all our loyal customers for their support. The card revolution continued with Mother’s Day with another record breaking year of card sales (& customers on the Saturday before). We love the fact that hundreds of mums woke up on 10th March with a gorgeous card from Chirpy, including myself!

This month we were very excited to launch our 2nd collaboration of the year, this time with Sarah Thornton Art. Sarah has designed a bespoke Chirpy bird which we have had printed onto cards, tea towels and prints. As part of this year’s charity fund raiser 20% of the sales of each product goes to Coppafeel. They are proving popular and we’re well on the way to achieving our target (though would love to smash it!). The workshops this month have all been sold out and we launched lots more too – people really seem to be enjoying our Chirp workshops at the moment. Have you tried one?

So Easter has come early this year and Easter weekend falls in March. Traditionally Easter isn’t the busiest time for us, though our chocolate sales are usually quite good! We’re ending the month with another Double Points weekend, and Chapel Allerton is hosting its first Food market on Saturday as well as a Easter hunt for the kids, so here’s hoping that it might be busy after all. There’s a little Easter treat online too.

So what’s in store for the next 3 months? More new stock, more workshops, including some great new ones, a new stationery trade show to visit and the return of Magic Tenner in May. All whilst trying to navigate A level exams and then a trip to Paris to celebrate the end of 2 years of very hard work for my girl. 

Wishing you a very Happy Easter & don’t forget to turn your clocks back on Saturday night!

Jo x