January 27th, 2012
…of trade magazines delivered this week, covering all the industry sectors Chiggs Wheels overlap- nursery, greeting cards and gifts. Mary Portas’s review into the future of the UK High Street, commissioned by the Prime Minister last May, has created a lot of interest and debate. Greetings Today Magazine discussed the report in it’s leader, while Nursery Industry Magazine carried an in-depth article setting out Mary’s 28 suggestions- ranging from a National Market Day to encourage potential shopkeepers, to free parking schemes to help bring customers back in to town centres. There are a lot of sensible, and what seem to be implementable (might have just made that word up…) ideas, and it will be interesting to see what the Government response is. It seems the wheels of Whitehall turn slowly, as the official response is sheduled for “spring”.
Given the press coverage Mary Portas’s recommendations received, and the interest in small businesses and the future of the UK High Street, it seems pertinent to mention an email I received this week giving advance notice of Independent Retailer Month 2012, which will be running throughout July this year. This campaign aims to encourage people to ‘shop local’ by highlighting the important role that smaller, local, independent retailers play in the communities they serve and the local economy they contribute to.
And in Chiggs’s unofficial role of Independent Retailer Cheerleader (self-appointed) we’ll be running a new series of blog posts- “Stockist Spotlight”- to give an insight into the businesses we are fortunate to work with, and supply with Chiggs Wheels. We hope it will encourage our readers to visit, support and buy from local or online ‘Indies’, or even provide the inspiration for someone to start their own business!
Tags: cheerleader, chiggs, Chiggs Wheels, economy, gifts, greeting cards, Greetings Today Magazine, High Street, Independent Retailer Month, Independent retailers, Indies, Mary Portas, Nursery Industry, small business, spring, stockist spotlight, Whitehall
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December 30th, 2011
Long time no blog! As regular readers of this blog will know (hello Mum!) Christmas is a very busy time for the Chiggs family, as we also celebrate a birthday – Holly, our incredibly helpful ‘office junior’ (aka my wonderful daughter) was 9 years old on Christmas Day. A double celebration! And also the reason for the silence on the blog post front, you can imagine how busy we have been as a family, and Chiggs also had a great month sales-wise.
I’d like to wish a very happy and healthy New Year to everyone, and a very very big thank you to our customers, to friends and to family, and to our wonderful Chiggs Wheels stockists- a myriad of amazing and inspirational people running an incredibly diverse range of businesses- who have helped make 2011 a fantastic year for Chiggs.
Tags: 2011, Christmas, hello mum, New Year
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November 30th, 2011
Once again, Chiggs Wheels stockists are out and about in the run up to Christmas, and here are some more festive events.
Friday 2nd December, Hello Baby Gifts will be at the Pavilions in the Park, Hurst road, Horsham, West Sussex
Piglet’s Boutique will be selling their lovely gifts for little ones at a Christmas Fair in Hull at the David Lloyd Leisure Centre on Saturday the 3rd of December (10am til 4pm)
Durham City’s traditional Christmas Festival is on Friday 2nd December: 10am – 6pm, Saturday 3rd December: 9am – 5pm and Sunday 4th December: 10am – 4:30pm. There is huge craft and gift marquee on Palace Green featuring over 180 stalls selling a wide variety of Christmas gift ideas, and Little Pjs will be selling their lovely nightwear and gifts including Chiggs Wheels, (perfect gifts for parents of December babies!) for the 3 days of the festival.
On the 11th of December, Lulabells will be at Cockermouth Market, in Cumbria with their lovely selection of gifts.
And the 15th of December is the 6th birthday of Chiggs! We’re not sure what the celebrations will involve- mainly cake and jelly, I suspect- so watch this space 
Tags: bithday, cake and jelly, Chiggs Wheels, Christmas, Cockermouth, Durham Christmas Festival, gift, Hello Baby, Horsham, Hull, LittlePJs, Lulabells, parents of December babies, Pavilions in the Park, Piglets Boutique, stockists
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November 21st, 2011
Children’s medicines are in the news again today, as a report on the Telegraph website says that parents should be cutting down on the doses of Paracetamol, such as Calpol, they give young children.
Until recently guidelines on bottles of childrens medicines suggested the same dose for children aged from 12 months to six years. The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has now revised these recommendations, saying that with the “very wide age bands …younger children may have received a dose of paracetamol that was higher than necessary”.
The MHRA suggested that dosing be split into tighter age bands, reflecting the differences in weight and bodily development between a one-year-old baby and a six-year-old child, and given new recommended doses for children aged between 2 and 4. Doses have also been altered for babies, and the new guidelines have been incorporated on product packaging.
Chiggs recommends that for real peace of mind, parents also make sure they have a Baby Medicine Wheel or a Get Well Wheel close at hand. When the medicine is given (in the correct new dose of course!) parents can turn the dial to make a note of the time, and that way they can give the right dose of medicine, at the right time!
Tags: babies, baby medicine wheel, calpol, children, childrens medicines, dose, get well wheel, medicine, paracetamol, parents
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November 8th, 2011
We have lots and lots of amazing small businesses selling Chiggs Wheels, and some of them are certainly getting out and about this month! As we are all gearing up for Christmas there are some rather exciting shopping events and baby fairs to attend during November, and here is a little sample of places you’ll be able to find Chiggs Wheels in the run up to the festive season…
Tuesday 8th November- the NSPCC Christmas Shopping Fair in Carlisle- attended by Little PJs, a fellow North Yorkshire business who specialises in quality baby & childrens clothes, pyjamas, nightwear and accessories- including of course, Chiggs Wheels!
Tuesday 8th November- Ladies night, Horrabridge Community Primary School, Yelverton, Devon attended by Nat’s Nappy Cakes
Thursday 10th November- Christmas Shopping Night at
Kiddiroo 6 Mark Square,
Tarleton from 7.30pm
Thursday 10th to 13th November- Christmas Fair at Brocksbrush Farm, Corbridge,
Northumberland, with Christmas Gift and craft marquees one of which will be home to
Little PJs
Friday 11th November – Spree & Spa evening at Clifford Village Hall,
Boston Spa 6.30pm to 10pm attended by
Baby Mu
Friday 18th November – Kirby Hill Primary School Xmas Fayre,
Kirby Hill – 6pm – 8pm attended by
Baby Mu
Saturday 19th November – Cundall Manor School,
Cundall – 11am – 3pm and
Baby Mu will be there!
Sunday 20th November – The Main Furniture Company, The Green,
Green Hammerton – 10am-4pm with
Baby Mu
Wednesday 23rd November – Aldborough Village Hall,
Aldborough -A winter shopping evening 7.30pm – 9pm- go and say hello to
Baby Mu!
Friday 25th, Saturday 26th and Sunday 27th November Living North Christmas Fair at
Harewood House with a Christmas Village and food fair- a very festive place to visit
Little PJs
Thursday 30th November - Late night Christmas shopping in
Boroughbridge – all evening. The perfect chance to get cracking with your Christmas shopping and visit
Baby Mu at The Old Foundry Kitchen,
Boroughbridge (next to vets on New Row)
Tags: baby and childrens gifts, Baby Mu, chiggs, Christmas, Fair, Fayre, gifts, Harewood House, Kiddiroo, late night shopping, LittlePJs, Nappy cakes, shopping
Posted in Chiggs, Chiggs Wheels, Events | 1 Comment »
October 7th, 2011
In the early years of running Chiggs there were a handful of forums where ladies, often Mums, running their own businesses could chat online, swap advice etc in what were known as WaHM (Work at Home Mum) areas of the forum.
Wahm was the watchword- a neat way of defining a group of ladies- Mums- who understood the challenges of running a business from home whilst parenting. At the time, my daughter Holly hadn’t started school, and it was great to be able to ‘chat’ to others who could empathise with the experience of trying to answer the ‘phone to a business client at precisely the time your toddler threw the most enormously noisy tantrum because they had posted their favourite teddy behind the radiator.
But now there is a new word in town, and this one is official!
For the last couple of years, the word ‘Mumpreneur’ has been gaining favour. It’s describing the same demographic group; Mums -entrepeneurs- running their own businesses, often in the baby/children sector. Often it’s a business that has come about as a result of becoming a Mum. It’s a description I’m happy to have applied to me. It was my experience as a mum that made me realise, when I had the idea for the Baby Feed Wheel, how useful it would be to have something to keep a note of baby’s feed times. I remembered writing down all Holly’s feed times on scraps of paper!
Developing this into a business has made me an entrepeneur, and, yes, being a Mum is relevant, so “Mumpreneur”- why not?!
And the Mumpreneur movement continues to gain impetus. Despite it being a bit of a ‘Marmite’ term, there is now a Mumpreneur Conference, Mumpreneur Awards, a Mumpreneur Directory…
And now comes the news that the term Mumpreneur is to make it into the new edition of the Collins English Dictionary. Definition:- ”A woman who combines running a business with looking after her children”.
So, now that the word is out, work at home mums don’t have to keep mum about being a mum. Wahms are Fantastic!
(Apologies to George Michael, Andrew Ridgeley, Pepsi and Shirley!)
Tags: Andrew Ridgeley, baby, Baby Feed Wheel, chiggs, children, dictionary, feed times, George Michael, Marmite, mumpreneur, Pepsi, Shirley, WaHM
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September 26th, 2011
…well, kind of! Thanks to our sparklingly efficient insurance broker (not a phrase I thought I would be writing in a blog post, admittedly) we can now send Chiggs Wheels to customers absolutely anywhere in the world.
For individual sales from the Chiggs online shop, the price is £4.20 per Wheel (don’t forget the 10% discount on all orders of 3 or more Wheels) with postage costs of absolutely nothing (UK), 70p (Europe), and £1.40 (Rest of the World) for 1 Wheel. For each additional Wheel bought at the same time postage is also nothing for the UK, and is 15p (Europe) and 30p (Rest of the World) per Wheel.
We’ve supplied shops in Europe and Australia for a while now, (and have a distributor in the Benelux area ) and can now offer Chiggs Wheels at wholesale rates for bulk purchases to shops and online stores in the United States of America and Canada. There’s more Trade and Wholesale information on the Chiggs website, and businesses based in the UK, Europe or Worldwide can get details of our trade price and shipping costs by filling in the trade enquiry form on the Chiggs site.
We have very low minimum order rates, barganious shipping costs and provide stockists with images of the Wheels, and a listing or link on the Chiggs stockists list:- helping customers to find you!
Tags: 10% discount, Benelux, Canada, Chiggs Wheels, insurance broker, postage, shipping, shops, sparklingly efficient, stockists, trade, USA, wholesale
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September 15th, 2011
We’re very pleased to announce that we have secured a distributor for Chiggs Wheels covering the Benelux area. Nursery shops and greeting card retailers in Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxemburg are able to request trade information and purchase Chiggs Baby Feed Wheels, Baby Medicine Wheels and Get Well Wheels at wholesale rates from Babease/Verba.
Heidi, who runs Babease/Verba will be crossing the border from her business base in Belgium to exhibit Chiggs Wheels at the Pink and Blue Fair- the Dutch trade fair for baby and childrens products. Babease are on Stand BB13, and the show runs on Sunday the 25th of September (10-18.00) Monday the 26th of September (10-21.00- a long day!) and Tuesday the 27th of September (10-17.00) at Brabanthalle in Den Bosch (in Brabant, in the south of the country).
We’ve exhibited at trade shows ourselves, and know what hard work it is, so wish Heidi comfy shoes and a really successful show!
Tags: Babease, Baby Feed Wheel, baby medicine wheel, Belgium, Benelux, chiggs, comfy shoes, distributor, get well wheel, Luxemburg, Pink and Blue Fair, the Netherlands, trade fair, wholesale
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July 21st, 2011
The Harrogate Home and Gift trade Show is over for another year. It ran from the 17th to the 20th of July, filling the whole of the International Conference Centre (and much more besides!). I’ve been attending as a visitor for the last 5 years, since I started with Chiggs, and this year seemed to be the biggest ever- they keep finding subterranean halls to open and fill with exhibitors, and I think now the whole of the underground car park has been turned into exhibitor space. I’m sure that the vast majority of residents of Harrogate have no idea about the acres of space, bustling with people, under Kings Road!
Many local hotels are also used for the Home and Gift Show, with The Cairn hosting Gitware exhibitors, and The Majestic having ‘gifts for Men’ in the hotel, a rather wonderful jazz band playing on the terrace, and its grounds filled with semi-permanent ‘marquees’ (that word doesn’t do them justice, they are better built than my first house was!)
I went to meet some Twitter friends who run businesses exhibiting there, to browse businesses supplying products Chiggs need to purchase to make our business run smoothly (display units, stationery, packaging, embellishments etc ) and to check out the trends in the greeting card and gift market (if ’bunting’ is the new ‘cupcakes’ I wonder what the new ‘bunting’ will be?!)
Another trend that struck me is ‘square’ greeting cards. Now, I didn’t set out to design only square cards, the dial that makes the cards so useful and unique, in many ways, dictated the size and shape of Chiggs Wheels. While some greeting card publishers have a variety of shapes and sizes in their ranges (including a few square cards), I noticed a few companies exhibiting at this year’s trade show whose entire range was square. It’s hip to be square!
More info:-Chiggs Wheels are approx 13cm x 13cm square, supplied with a white envelope and sealed in a cellophane wrapper with a printed insert. They are available to buy from the Chiggs online shop, from a variety of independent retailers, and at trade and wholesale rates exclusively from Chiggs.
Tags: bunting, chiggs, cupcakes, dial, Exhibition, greeting card, Harrogate, Home and Gift Show, International Conference Centre, square, trade fair, trends, Twitter, unique, wholesale
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July 12th, 2011
Today has been day 1 of the 153rd Great Yorkshire Show, which takes place over three days in July, here in Harrogate at the Showground.
The Great Yorkshire Show is an agricultural show which features everything from milking competitions, rustic carpentry (my husband could probably teach them a thing or two about that!), and show jumping to beekeeping demonstrations. Seriously, you name it, it’s happening there.
There are also over 900 stalls and stands, and I’m very excited because for the first time Chiggs Wheels will also be at the Yorkshire Show! A fellow Yorkshire business, Little PJs, which specialises in baby and children’s clothes, nightwear and accessories is exhibiting in the WiRE (Women in Rural Enterprize) tent on 5th Avenue.
A good friend of Chiggs, Cari, who runs Party Sprite, (another business that sells Chiggs Wheels), is also at the show with a stand to promote her exciting Yorkshire Family Show which takes place at the Yorkshire Event Centre, also based at the Showground in Harrogate on the 20th and 21st of August 2011.
So, if you’re visiting the Great Yorkshire Show tomorrow or Thursday, do visit Ros and her business Little PJs in the WiRE tent on 5th Avenue, or Cari on stand 484 Avenue M North, and say “Hello!”
Tags: Chiggs Wheels, Great Yorkshire Show, Harrogate, Showground, stockists, Yorkshire, Yorkshire family show
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