You are in the Special Features section - Magic Dragon Toys

Magic Dragon Toys

 



 


 

 

 

Magic Dragon Toys - Traditional Wooden Toys, Rag Dolls, Educational Toys and Wooden Toddler Toys for Children from Birth to Nine.

 

Magic Dragon Toys is a family run company who supply the kind of toys you had as a child. Traditional toys of good quality, which have an educational value and are well manufactured. Their toy collection contains toys which are suitable for children from birth to around 9 years old. They choose manufacturers who make toys from ethical, sustainable sources. Toys that are made to have a minimum impact, on our environment. This means their toys are not made from plastic and are recyclable. Magic Dragon Toys are especially chosen to reflect the diverse and multi-cultural world we live in.

Here Digger talks to founder Lesley about the business.

 

 

magicdragontoys.co.uk

www.magicdragontoys.co.uk 

 


 

 

www.magicdragontoys.co.uk 

 

 

Digger:  Hello Lesley.

Lesley: Hello David.

Digger: Hoping you’re keeping warm?

Lesley: Bristol’s been a bit strange. Parts of it are frosty and others don’t look like there’s been any snow at all.

Digger: Shall I dive into the questions?... Can you please tell us a little of the background to Magic Dragon Toys?

Lesley: I was a head teacher in an inner city Bristol school.

Digger: That must have been challenging.

Lesley: Very.

Digger: Was that when you had to be as much of an administrator and manager as an educator?

Lesley: Yes. I did it for seventeen years. Parents were always interested in what to get their children, mainly because there’s a large asylum seekers and multi-cultural population in Bristol.

Digger: Yes, Bristol has always been very cosmopolitan hasn’t it?

Lesley: Yes, well about 68% of my children had English as an additional language. It’s a very multi-cultural population and new parents, new arrivals, often didn’t know what things to get. And I’ve always been interested in toys and children’s learning and that sort of thing.

Digger: That’s your excuse. (Both laugh) I’ve got a couple of surrogate grandchildren via my girlfriend and we go along to the school plays and what have you. I’ve seen how the teachers get at least as much fun out of them as the pupils. (Both laugh) So how important is it to you that these toys are environmentally friendly? Very I should imagine.

Lesley:  Yes, obviously, that’s why we started the business really because we were looking for toys for our grandchildren and at the time, this was about three years ago, there wasn’t very much available.

Digger: People had missed a trick there. That’s one of your Unique Selling Points really.

Lesley: Yes, and the other thing is we want to provide personal service and a lot of these big stores are so huge that you go in there and want to buy something and you can’t find anyone who knows anything. (Laughs)

Digger: No, you’re right. I was talking to a lady who does reproduction vintage design clothing and she said there’s just no choice for anyone and everybody is getting fed up with the sameness of everything.

Lesley: That’s right.

Digger: How significant is the nostalgia factor when customers are choosing toys for their children or grandchildren?

Lesley: Well I think people think back to their childhood and the sorts of things they enjoyed playing with and that’s the sort of experience they want to give to their children or grandchildren. The more traditional type toys are the sorts we sell. We sell very little that’s TV-inspired.

Digger: Good. Good for you Lesley.

Lesley: And we avoid plastic. So tactile toys and things that are going to appeal to children really.

Digger: I can still remember the feeling I had when I played with my favourite toys – a farm, a fort and a fire engine. What were your favourites as a child?

Lesley: I suppose things like – really old-fashioned, dolls and soft toys. And to be honest with you, that’s what children today go for.

Digger: Did you have a doll’s house?

Lesley: Yes I did actually.

Digger: Shop bought or home made?

Lesley: No, it was shop bought but I think Dad had done things to it.

Digger: He’d added electrics and plumbing?!

Lesley: Yes, He’d added a few things.

Digger: Good old Dad. So what do you enjoy most about running the business?

Lesley: Although our business is online, we do have a fair bit of customer contact really and I like looking for new and innovative toys. I suppose we’re looking a lot to Europe, and if I could possibly buy from the UK and UK-designed stuff, I do. A fabulous company just the other side of Warminster called Tyme Again and they reproduce swords and shield and the sort of stuff you see in the heritage centres and National Trust properties. They hand-make everything there.

Digger: I know the sort of stuff you mean – like when I come out into the gift shop at Warwick Castle -  which was conveniently built by William The Conqueror when they built the castle. They do all those do they?

Lesley: Bows and arrows and also the historical bit so that you can get a plain shield and then add a transfer with mediaeval or Norman or whatever insignia on them.

Digger: There are lots of toys that aren’t acceptable these days that we used to play with, are there? For example, you don’t see bows and arrows and cowboys with guns. You just wouldn’t see cowboys and Indians.

Lesley: I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that myself. Children these days are very aware of stereotyping.

Digger: Are they?

Lesley: Yes, it’s the sort of thing you talk to them about at school but I don’t think there’s anything wrong with children playing with toys like bows and arrows as long as there’s a safe element to it. I’m not mad keen on guns I must admit – I mean, I didn’t buy my children guns and it’s not something I would encourage children to pay with really. But, generally speaking, kids are a lot more sensible than people give them credit for.

Digger: And than we were probably.

Lesley: Yes. I mean, what do children play with? At Christmastime they’ll play more with the boxes than they will with what’s in it.

Digger: Yes, I have seen that.

Lesley: As a toy retailer I suppose I shouldn’t say that, actually. You don’t need to spend much money on toys because there’s so much stuff you can use these days and children can have just as much enjoyment from toilet rolls, yoghourt pots and all the rest of it as they do from something that’s shop bought.

Digger: People take the Mickey out of me because I have so many early memories of my childhood, but I used to make a lot of models and things out of matches and cigarette butts and cardboard– disgusting really I suppose but I was almost encouraging my mum to smoke.

Lesley: Children will play with whatever’s available and if there’s nothing there then they’ll invent something. I quite like seeing them playing with skipping ropes and when I was at school I would let them play conkers when it was the conker season. You’d give them a little talk about what was sensible and give them the ground rules. But I think children will play with whatever they can lay their hands on and you can buy them the most expensive toys in the world and the thing they’ll play with is some old rabbit that they’ve had since they were two. What everyone goes for these days – back to your old-fashioned teddy bears, rabbits and that sort of stuff. Children love those sorts of things.

Digger: Do they still do that doggy on wheels?

Lesley: Yes, I’ve got one of those on my website.

Digger: Spinning tops?

Lesley: I haven’t got any spinning tops in but I have seen a supplier. And the other thing I wanted to stock next year, and which I was really keen on, was some boats. You know that you sail in the park?

Digger: Yes, they were great.

Lesley: I have stocked stuff like paper aeroplane kits too.

Digger: I used to make those out of balsa wood.

Lesley: That’s right, and there’s another manufacturer we use who does retro games and they do stuff like the trapeze monkeys. Did you see Not On The High Street - the last episode?

Digger: Yes.

Lesley: They had the toy shop and some of the toys they had in there were from a Somerset company and they also do things like Beetle Bingo and all that sort of thing. So I’m always looking for something that’s just a bit different.

Digger: There’s a guy who’s doing Pelham Puppets.

Lesley: Yes, Pelham Puppets are still going. They were bought out – I’m not sure who by.

Digger: What are your best sellers?

Lesley: Well, anything to do with firemen, fire stations and that sort of thing. Fire engines – the wooden ones and we’ve got a nice old London bus which is very popular.

 

 

www.magicdragontoys.co.uk 

 

 

 

Digger: The Routemaster bus.

Lesley: Yes, and the other most popular item is our rag doll range. We’ve got the whole range and they all look like the little Raggedy Annie. In fact, we have quite a lot of adults buying them because they remember them from when they were little – you know, “It’s like the one I had.”

Digger: I was almost tempted to buy an old die cast truck the other day which reminded me of one I had when I was a kid. I remember my parents buying it for me on the motorway in the sixties and I loved that truck!

Lesley: The other thing that’s been really popular this year is a game called Amazing Magician. It’s a sort of magnetic game where you have this little figure and you ask it a question and it shoots round to the right answer.

Digger: I think I remember that from the old days as well.

Lesley: Yes, from the 1950s and I think it was called Confucius Says but I found a company that does a version of this retro game. I got ten in thinking I wasn’t sure they would sell and they all went out the door before I could got them in. I think it was people buying them because they remembered them from when they were young and thinking “Oh yeah, I remember playing that.”  So I think there is a big nostalgia factor in toys.

Digger: And why not?

Lesley: Yes, absolutely.

Digger: What does The Internet mean to your business?

Lesley: We wouldn’t have a business if it wasn’t for The Internet. We are purely an online business.

Digger: A lot of overseas customers as well?

Lesley: Yes, all around the world. Russia, Latvia, Estonia. I think Russia’s the furthest place. Quite a bit from the States and increasingly we’re getting a bit of trade from Australia.

Digger: Very good.

Lesley: And The Internet’s the only way you could reach a worldwide audience, couldn’t you?

Digger: You come in and you have a few orders and a few enquiries in the morning?

Lesley: I’m running the business from home at the moment. Most people seem to shop at about 3:00 in the morning, I’ve noticed.

Digger: You don’t want the machine beeping at you when an email comes in at that time of the day.

Lesley: You’re right. I switch it on in the morning and the orders are waiting to get packing and wrapping.

Digger: That’s great. Where do you see the future for Magic Dragon Toys?

Lesley: I want to extend the range, really. We’ve just revamped our website and are spinning that forward in January. It’s got some more swanky features like a proper search facility on it so people can find toys a lot easier and it’s got a pre-checkout. The front of it stays the same but the way it all works is better. You’ve got to take into account things like safety with data protection. We’re also going to have a Paypal facility on there because a lot of people want to pay that way.

Digger: It seems to be the way forward.

Lesley: Then we have links to a Magic Dragon Facebook page and we Twitter too.

Digger: Have you got a lot of followers?

Lesley: (Laughs) Yes, we’ve got a few followers.

Digger: It makes sense to be on those if you’re selling something.

Lesley: It’s just a question of remembering to Twitter and knowing what to say. Actually we get quite a lot of customers driven through the Facebook page, and we sell on Amazon as well so we get a lot of feedback that way.

Digger: Excellent. Thanks Lesley. It’s funny how things have developed. When I was in IT up until the nineties, people used to accuse us of using jargon and using machines that they didn’t understand. And now everyone uses the same sorts of technology and the sort of jargon we were using. Nobody had heard of eBay when I was first using it in the nineties.

Lesley: Funny isn’t it?

Digger: And now we all totally rely on The Internet and computers.

Lesley: I have an eBay shop for Magic Dragon but I’ve also got one called Spice Cook which is for curry kits.

Digger: Great, I'm all for diversity.

Lesley: Yes, well the Spice Cook – that just popped into my head one day because I thought people are always cooking curries. My parents came from Burma in the early fifties but I was born in this country and so we were always eating food that was totally different from everybody else. I didn’t realise when I was at school that everybody didn’t eat what I ate. So since then there’s a whole curry culture and I thought I’d stock ready-done curry kits – a number of varieties of them. And then we just branched out selling kitchen bits and pieces really. But Magic Dragon is our main businesses.

Digger: Magic Dragon could be the name of a company that does curries as well.

Lesley: Yes, it could be.

Digger: Maybe you should become the Pataks of the west country?

Lesley: (Laughs) I think I missed the boat on that one.

Digger: Well, if you could get some kind of USP?... Think of Reggae Reggae Sauce. We love our comfort foods.

Lesley: Do you know, it’s so interesting because I found a supplier that does chicken curry and that sort of thing and I stuck them on the site and they’ve been flying out the door interestingly which I didn’t think they would do. And also lots of people abroad are buying curry kits – all around the world really. Because they’re small and they’ll fit in an envelope and they don’t cost a lot to post…

Digger: That sounds promising for the future. I’m very impressed. You are literally an entrepreneur.

Lesley: (Laughs) After seventeen years of running a school I just came out with ideas from my head and I thought “I can’t do anything to do with education.” But it’s in my veins.

Digger: I think sometimes all the stuff you’ve done before is in preparation for what you’re doing now. And also, as you said, you couldn’t have done this until The Internet came along. The other skills you’ve developed have helped and now is the right time. Good for you.

Lesley: Take care David.

Digger: Keep warm!

Lesley: And you. Bye.

 

 

www.magicdragontoys.co.uk 

 


 

 

magicdragontoys.co.uk

www.magicdragontoys.co.uk 

 

Magic Dragon Toys sell a wide range of high quality toys that focus on educational value, traditional values and fair trade

Magic Dragon Toys is a family run company. We supply the kind of toys you had as a child. Traditional toys of good quality, which have an educational value and are well manufactured. Our toy collection contains toys which are suitable for children from birth to around 9 years old.

We choose manufacturers who make toys from ethical, sustainable sources. Toys that are made to have a minimum impact, on our environment. This means our toys are not made from plastic and are recyclable. Magic Dragon Toys are especially chosen to reflect the diverse and multi-cultural world we live in.

Every toy is considered individually by Magic Dragon Toys, before we stock them. All our toys are hand picked for their quality, affordability and durability. As you would expect, all our toys are CE marked for safety. Every toy has a special magic of its own and are the toys we buy for our grandchildren.

Telephone Number Sales: 0117 9763 557

Email: sales@magicdragontoys.co.uk

Address:
5 The Wicketts,
Filton,
Bristol.
BS7 0SR

 

 

 

 


 

This page layout and content  is the intellectual property of www.retrosellers.com and cannot be reproduced without express permission. 

We are not responsible for the content of external websites.

If we have inadvertently used any image on this web site which is in copyright and for which we, or our retailers on our behalf, do not have permission for use, please contact us so that we can rectify the situation immediately. Images in this article are, to the best of our knowledge, either in the public domain or copyrighted where indicated. 


 

www.retrosellers.com 

Home Page | About | Contact | Terms & Conditions | Privacy Policy