Matt
We at TCC thought you guys might like to get to know the people on the other side of the screen when you buy your toys. So let’s introduce one of our site sponsors, Collect and Display.
So…Introduce yourself, what are your names (other than your business name)?
Hi, We are Collect and Display or formally Jayne and Lee.
What inspired you to open an online store?
We were avid collectors before starting the store and I think the love that we have for the pieces we own and the lack of suppliers in the UK made us want to open our own store. We had alot of support from people all over the world who we had met on forums etc which was nice and gave us the boost we needed to get the store up and running.
You started out selling Star Wars plush through eBay, how did the decision
come about to start selling vinyl toys?
Back then we only really knew about Kidrobot and only had that in mind for the store. Kidrobot’s rules are that you have to have a website to stock their products, you cannot be trading through eBay/Amazon which at that time we were. We decided to sell Star Wars whilst our website was being built so we could establish ourselves in the time being.
Do you collect yourself, if so what do you collect and what was your
favourite purchase of the last year?
We are both avid collectors and have a great collection between the two of us. Jayne is really into her Joe Ledbetter and Coarse pieces, her favourite purchase last year was probably one/all of the Joe Ledbetter Chaos Bunnies. Lee collects all different pieces by different artists. His favourite piece from last year is a custom Luke Chueh Target by Rsin Art.
What role do each of you have in the day to day running of the store?
Lee generates all the business for us including marketing and buying and Jayne does the admin and customer service side of the job – packing, postage, speaking to customers, customising the website etc and accounts.
How did you go about establishing stockists, when others have struggled?
Persistence and pestering!! Initially, before we had started anything, we enquired about stocking Kidrobot and were shut down straight away with a straight forward no. We just pursued it and here we are now. Lots of other suppliers we met via social networking or just by sending them a quick email. They are all great helpful people and we would not be where we are without them. To be honest we see them as friends as opposed to suppliers, even other stores have offered to help and given us guidance through our journey.
What do you think of the current designer toy scene?
We think it’s awesome! There are so many great things happening all over the globe with shows etc. We attended ToyCon last year which was great with a real feel good vibe. There are alot of self produced resin toys being put out which is great and lots more people are taking an interest. Everything looks on the up!
You’ve had some great exclusives for your store, is there anymore lined up you can tell us about?
Thanks! We cannot reveal anything just yet but all will be revealed soon 🙂
Tell us your thoughts behind the Monthly Custom Series that you have just
announced, how was the idea born and how did you pick the artists?
This was actually Lee’s idea. He thought that with all the independent artists creating out there currently, it would be good to get them on board with the store and at the same time help artists not as well known as others and establish them even more. It seems to have had alot of positive feedback so here is hoping it will be successful and we can do another series next year. The artists were chosen pretty randomly to be honest, we just picked the people we felt would fit in and produce the best work with the series.
You are going to be an exhibiter at ToyConUK, what can we expect to see on your booth, do you have any surprises up your sleeves?
We are and cannot wait!!!!! We will have some of the usual stuff found on our site at our booth like blind boxes, munnys etc. Lots of surprises but nothing can be revealed just yet Mwahaha! Hoping that everyone will LOVE what we have planned and we are really excited to reveal it all.
Thanks to Lee and Jayne for letting us fire questions at them and we can’t wait to see what they have lined up for ToyConUK, also keep your eyes on their Website for the monthly custom series and more exclusives from the guys.
