Charlie's Toy Shop
About
Charlie's Toy Shop was set up by me Jenni (Charlie's Mummy) in March 2013. I am a fully trained Nursery Nurse and also have several year’s experience in Customer Service and Sales support. I had wanted to work for myself for a while but it never seemed the 'right' time or I always found a reason not to do it. Shortly before having Charlie and then when he was 2 years old I suffered 2 blood clots and to put it bluntly, there is nothing like staring your own mortality in the face to realise you only have one chance at life so why not live your dreams. WIth this in mind I woke up on New Year’s Day 2013 proclaiming that 'this was going to be my year' and 'I was going to open an online toy store'....Charlie's Toy Shop was born and just
2 and a half months later I sold my first toy!!!
Charlie is very much part of the business, infact he has the most important role...he is chief toy tester!!! I have also had alot of help from family and friends to ensure that CTS has become a success.
The toys I sell are all well-made, good quality, reasonably priced toys that each have an educational and development value. The toys are chosen by myself and a friend (another trained nursery nurse) and all descriptions of the toys are also written by us. So we can genuinely say that each toy is chosen with a lot of love and though having gone into the process.
Alongside the website, I also offer a 'mobile shop' service which finds me going into many different child orientated environments from pre-schools to private nurserys to mother and toddler sessions to sure start centres. I love this part of my job as I love meeting people and helping them to choose the best toy for their child.
I am also proud that within my business I am able to support two amazing charities. The first one is a national charity CDH UK and it supports families and children affected by a congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia. The friend who helps to choose and write the description of the toys lost her 2 week old daughter to this condition last year and I have a page dedicated to supporting the charity in the CTS catalogue. The other charity is a local charity The Gwendoline Truman Leukaemia Foundation which raises funds for children in local hospitals currently battling leukaemia to provide them with toys and other educational sources during their stay in hospital.
The aim is to grow the company nationally through the website and locally by continuing to go out and about to meet people through various groups. Good quality toys are an important part of every child's life and I hope that at some point in their lives, children can access these toys, whether it be by them having been bought the toys or that they are accessing them through a group they attend. Charlie is my world and deserves the best start in life with toys that can help him achieve his milestones...to be able to offer toys that will do this for other people's children is an honour and something I am very proud of.
Click here to visit Charlies Toy Shop
