Grovers, Northallerton: Yorkshire family business of nearly 60 years evolved from selling stationery to toys and telescopes
It has been in institution in Northallerton for 60 years, with generations of children going along to choose gifts that can be sent to Father Christmas.
Tim and Frances Grover bought a newsagent business in Northallerton in 1968 and expanded the business four years later to sell toys.
They started selling books, stationery, before introducing toys after the toy shop on the high street had closed.
Marcus Grover, the current owner of the shop, joined the business in the late 1980s and was a freelance photographer at the time. He introduced the optic instruments to the store.
The evolution of the business helped to sustain it over the years, owner of the shop, Marcus Grover, said.
“I could see there was a gap in the market of our town for what’s known as onsite processing,” he said.
“When you have a mini lab, you could develop and print photos and they’d be ready in as quick as an hour.
“Today, the telescopes, binoculars and night vision goggles that we sell have become the major part of our business.
“We still sell toys, but we’re not a news agent, we don’t sell stationery, we don’t sell books, you have to evolve.
“When you’re a small business, you have to be careful to evolve and make sure your offer is still relevant. We’ve changed entirely from the business my parents bought in 1968.”
One of the main products they sell are optic instruments such as telescopes and binoculars.
“We sell binoculars and telescopes for astronomy as well as for people with a view and all sorts of specialist use of binoculars,” Mr Grover said.
“You can have binoculars that go around your neck, there are binoculars that are so big and heavy that they have to be used on a tripod because they’re that big.
“Now you’ve got a dove-tailing of technologies for night vision and binoculars where you can find for instance an animal.
“You might be a bird watcher and you might be looking for a particular bird and of course they can be beautifully disguised, camouflaged.
“Bird watchers use our thermal images for finding a bird and then they can observe that bird with the full colour that you would normally expect from a binocular.”
As well as telescopes and binoculars, Grovers is also a typical traditional toy shop, Mr Grover said..
“We have toys and games for all ages up to adults,” he said.
“We also have modelling, like Fix Kits being a good example of that, radio-controlled models, Hornby, Scalextric.
“Lego has always been the biggest name in toys, they are probably bigger than ever. Fantastic ideas that they come up with, as you know they get associated with films.
“They are super popular and it’s a great brand. I enjoy selling quality products and when it comes to toys, we major in brands like Playmobile, Lego, Hornby, Scalextric, in plastic kits there’s a Japanese company called Tamiya.
“For the last 50 years, Lego has been a product for all ages. There’s almost as many adults that want Lego as children.
“People love Lego, they carry on with their Lego bricks throughout their lives.”
There have been many challenges in keeping the business going.
“Every day is a school day, every day presents a challenge.
“You have to react to the changes of shopping habits, so our website is important to us. We also travel all over the UK, selling our products as well.
“We have a stand at the Great Yorkshire Show, we travel to Cornwall and up into Scotland with our products and people expect us to be at the 20 shows that we do every year.
“They are keen to shop with us. Thinking locally, we have a stand on the West Cliff at the Whitby Regatta show every year.
“People in Whitby have a spectacular view of the sea; they have big telescopes and binoculars to look at ships for instance or maybe the birds, that’s one of the reasons why we enjoy going to Whitby Regatta every year. We like to show off our big binoculars and telescopes.”
Despite its many expansions and changes, the business remains a family-owned shop focusing on customer service.
“We still are one store, we’re still family-owned, some of our staff have been with us for more than 30 years.
“We’re very knowledgeable about the products that we sell because the business has changed entirely.
“The binoculars and telescopes have been a major part of our business for maybe 20 years now.
“We still sell toys which were part of the original business and there are generations of people around here who talk fondly about how their grandparents came when they were their grandchildren’s age. It’s lovely to have that association with generations of customers.
“There’s an awful lot of nostalgia in toys; the classic examples of that are Hornby, Scalextric, Air Fix, Playmobile, are great stalwarts of the toy industry.”
Northallerton is blessed with a wide selection of shops that you don’t often see in towns anymore, Mr Grover said.
“It’s customer service, it’s knowledge about what we sell and the fact that we have the brands that they are most likely to be happy with.
“The bulk of our business is in optics for telescopes we’ve got Swarovski and Hawke and in telescopes, you’ve got Celestial and Skywalker. We love being associated with quality stuff.
“Many retailers and quality stores have been lost from our high streets and it’s really not easy for any store in a prime shopping area because of the difficulties with parking, driving, the costs of being in a town centre.
“Many quality businesses have been driven out of existence in our town centres and that’s something I feel very strongly about.
“We have to shop local, we have to support town centre businesses because they bring people to our towns and our many stores are providing employment for the people who live here. So we have to look after the town centre businesses that we have.”