We've sold thousands of toys in five years and judging by our "trophy cabinet" it seems we're quite good at it. Starting local, we were delighted to be successful in the Specialist Shops category of St Albans Retailer of the Year in 2012 and we're very proud that this reflects the excellent customer service that we give our customers in the city. In the same year, Vogue magazine named us the ninth best shop outside London and hot off the back of that we also won Specialist Multiple Toy Retailer of the Year in 2013. The end of the year also saw us named as the Good Toy Guide's retailer of the month for December. And keeping up the good work we were nominated for both the Progressive Preschool awards and the Let Toys be Toys Good Practice Award in 2014.
There's even been a celebrity or two spotted toy shopping with us.
When we opened our third store in the Hatfield Galleria in 2012 we blogged here about how keeping it local worked for us and it's still the way we do business. Our fifth birthday feels like the appropriate time to give a big Cuthberts thank you to some of our local partners.
The collective in St Albans are still our go to people for everything and anything design related.
Another St Albans firm, RippleGen, are behind our new website and our relaunched online toy store.
Speaking of our online business, Mail Boxes etc on Holywell Hill are the ones who help us get toys to our customers on time.
In store Custom Made Carpentry & Joinery are responsible for helping us to display all the toys we sell so nicely, and Beelex Electrical the lighting to ensure you can actually see what you're looking for.
Around the corner from the St Albans store, and just a few doors away from Beelex are Printed Clothing who supply the distinctive tops and hoodies that our award winning staff wear.
And last, but by no means least, are Barrisimo the local award winning family coffee shop who help to keep us in coffee throughout the working day!
It was great to be able to celebrate our fifth birthday in store with some of our local customers and suppliers and it just leaves us to say thank you for all our support and customer over the last five years, and here's to the next five years!
Cuthberts have three award winning toy shops in St Albans, Letchworth and the Hatfield Galleria as well as their online toy store.