Toy Barnhaus
When Mark Buschaus and Stephen Barnes were made redundant from
Woolworths in January 2009, they decided to strike out on their
own. Taking what Woolies did best - toys - and ditching what it did
badly - everything else - Toy Barnhaus has been a storming success.
Within two years, the business has notched up a turnover of £1.4m
with three branches in the Sussex and Surrey areas. Working from
Woolworths sales data, Buschaus and Barnes stocked all of the
failed chain's bestsellers, but also many of the toys that
customers used to ask for and never receive. It currently employs
17 other ex-Woolworths staff, each with ten years' experience. This
is key to Toy Barnhaus' USP: customer service. The company motto is
"If we haven't got it, we will get it" and up to 10% of daily
orders are bespoke requests.
- Founders bounced back from redundancy and employed other
ex-Woolworths staff
- Customer service is second to none
- In-depth experience in the toy industry
Learn more about Toy Barnhaus