The Pencil Case in Cowbridge, South Wales is up for sale, as owner Sally Stephenson is ready for a new challenge.
The Pencil Case offers a range of local school uniform, stationery, helium balloons, cards and children’s gifts. It is very well known in the area and has a strong base of regular customers. Sally Stephenson set up The Pencil Case in Cowbridge in January 2014. After a complete refurbishment, the shop opened in March. “We were busy straight away and took on our first part-time member of staff just three months later,” says Sally.
The first few years showed growing demand to sell uniform for more and more local primary schools, and over the years the numbers stocked steadily increased. “We now supply official badged uniform for all 11 local schools, as well as Rainbows, Brownies and Guides uniforms and ballet and dancewear,” says Sally.
School uniform makes up half the turnover for the shop, with the rest coming from stationery, helium balloons, cards and children’s gifts. “Our target customers are busy parents of school-aged children, mainly from nursery to year six (4 to 11 years old),” says Sally. “We are a one-stop shop for busy parents and are very well known in the area as the go-to place for children’s birthday gifts. When a customer buys a gift, we can wrap it beautifully for them and even help their child write the birthday card as well”
Popular stationery brands in the shop include Legami (unsurprisingly the erasable pens are the best sellers), Puckator novelty stationery, Depesche (Top Model and Dino World), Staedtler colouring pens and pencils, Faber Castell writing pens, Pilot Pintor pens and Rachel Ellen Designs stationery gifts. Given the focus on the school-aged market, The Pencil Case stocks a wide range of back to school stationery in the summer.
As well as the in-store sales, Sally also has a thriving online shop. “When Covid struck in 2020, we relaunched our website and uploaded the entire product range,” explains Sally. “The pandemic had rapidly accelerated consumers’ confidence in online shopping, and the opportunity to reach a UK wide audience had never been greater. Online sales went from being just 4% of total sales before Covid, to 22% at its peak in 2021.”
As for the future, Sally says it is time for a change. “Both our kids are away at university now, so it really feels like the start of a new chapter for me and my husband. I’ve owned The Pencil Case for 11 years and I feel like I need a new challenge. We want to do something different and as we have no ties to Cowbridge or South Wales, the world is our oyster!”
If you or someone you know are interested in taking over The Pencil Case, contact Sally at sally@thepencilcase.co.ukor view the details here: btglink.co/4eHqtN1
