A TOY shop owner has been left in tears after going 20 days without taking a penny from her business, insisting people must try to “buy local”.
Maggie Tibbenham said the past few months had been the hardest in her six-year career running the Imagine Toy Shop in Holmfirth.
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In the past 12 months alone, Maggie endured 20 separate weekdays where she did not make a single dime from her “True Aladdin’s Cave”.
Her mental health plummeted as she worked long hours, 25 days in a row, running her shop and attending events where she would try to sell her products.
Maggie recently took to social media to issue a heartfelt appeal to the public, urging people to reconsider making online purchases and “buy local or it’s bye bye local”.
She was reduced to tears when her customers responded to her cry for help offering flowers and chocolate and even to run her shop for free so that she could have a break.
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The business owner told Yorkshire Live: “I cried. I was crying my eyes out.
“I had customers bringing me flowers to cheer me up. A customer said that if I was struggling mentally he would come and run the shop for free.
“I cried – it was embarrassing. This should not be happening.”
Maggie said that she was a strong person who adored her customers and her work, but her mental health was starting to collapse.
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Despite her shop being located in the centre of Holmfirth, Maggie was not seeing as much traffic to her store as it needs to survive.
She said she feared the town had too many independent shops, and bars and cafes, which may deter shoppers searching for gifts and other unique items – some of which Maggie sells.
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There were still, she said, a group of people who would do anything for the town and who try to make it an inviting place for people to want to visit.
As Maggie experiences a period in her career that has been the “worst ever” for takings, her partner Mike Whaley, who co-owns art gallery-gift shop Multicraft Cabin, is also seeing a dip in trade.
Mike said Easter and Christmas were the “worst ever” experienced by him in the 15 years since his shop opened on Victoria Street.
He echoed Maggie’s sentiments about there being too many bars and cafes – and charity shops – which may be driving customers away.
Adding fuel to the fire was the fact that some businesses in the town centre had chosen not to open on Mondays and Tuesdays, making Holmfirth less attractive as a potential destination to bus tours and returning visitors.
Mike too rallied customers to shop local and urged other retailers not to close on weekdays.
