Having been a scientist for my training and working life, I have the retail business knowledge of instinct of, well, a scientist! Thank goodness for programs like Dragons' Den on TV, which have taught me, in the midst of humiliating and tearing applicants to pieces in the name of televisual entertainment, about certain basics of retail
One of the gems I've gleaned is that margin is very important and that has set me thinking about products with great margins. One of the products I came up with has been greeting cards - providing you know someone who is half decent at rhyming, you could have a nice little business churning greeting cards with good margin
The Card Factory sells greeting cards and little gifts in the Whitgift Centre. I do like to take time to find the perfect card for an occasion and it's always nice to find more variety in my hunt.
The cards here are cheaper than those at places like Clinton Cards but the quality doesn't feel quite as good. However, there were some nice ones that I picked up.
Although I rarely write proper letters these days, I still like to give greeting cards and I hope that they don't go the same way due to electronic greeting cards, which I regard as a lazy option. It's worrying therefore to hear that Clinton Cards (and their associated Birthdays brand stores) are in financial difficulty.
Go on. Make someone's day! Send them a card! read more