1 www.durham.ac.uk/shop

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

Winter Congregation Feedback… 1

Fairtrade Fortnight………………... 2

Botanic Garden………………… ... 2

Getting to know you………….… ... 3

Social Media News………………. 3

Mystery Shopping results…….... .. 4

Howlands New Freezer………… .. 4

English Tourism Week…………. .. 5

Student Shop Sale…………… ..... 5

Staff Spotlight………………… ...... 6

Spring Issue 2015

Issue 5

durhamuniretail

Durham University

Retail Office

Durham University

Retail Office

@DurhamUniRetail

Durham University Retail

Office

Please send any contributions for

our next newsletter

(out in June) to

shop@durham.ac.uk

or call 0191 334 3902

WELCOME BACK

SHOPTALK

Welcome to the 5th issue of the Retail Office Newsletter! We hope you all had a wonderful

Christmas and New Year and are looking forward to the Spring. With fewer events on at this

time of year, the retail office comes alive with promotional enquiries, sales, and spring buying!

We have 20% off online with Fairtrade Fortnight on page 2 along with the Botanic Garden new

stock. Debra is telling us all about herself on page 3 and we see the results of the Mystery Shops

on page 4. English Tourism is celebrated on page 5 and check out the Staff Spotlight on Page 6.

Winter Congregation Feedback We received very positive feedback from our comment cards at Winter Congregation. With the

presentation of the shop and the service on the day receiving good and excellent results. Our

product offering received a lower average. We only had 15 comments cards handed back in to

us but we would like to get more back at future events. Champagne flutes and socks were

suggested as product ideas by customers as well as a Harry Potter wand and bigger teddy

bears!

COUNT THE EGGS! To get into the mood for Easter, let us

know how many of these golden bow eggs you can find in this

issue of Shoptalk! You might get an egg... Send answers

through to Amelia.

2

Botanic Garden

Fairtrade Fortnight

From 23rd February - 8th March you can get 20% off all of our clothing online with the code: FAIRTRADE2015

Debra has been working really hard at the Botan-

ic Garden over the last few months, introducing

an exciting new range of stock. To the right is the

‘vintage heart collection’ with items ranging from

chalkboards and notice boards to tea light hold-

ers and trinket boxes.

Other ranges include the floral song range, the

owl collection and the sting in the tail range which

includes a quirky variety of soaps, gift sets and

gardening equipment.

Kids corner has also been revamped to ensure

a range of pocket money items are available for

children to buy this Spring!

Did you know that the Retail Office has suppliers

that use Fairtrade Cotton for our merchandise

clothing? The cotton comes from India, Bangla-

desh and Sri Lanka.

The communities are given a fair price for their

work and no sweatshops are used. They are

also given an additional premium, which is in-

vested by the farmers in projects for the environ-

ment and for the community. This goes to help

support various aspects of the community, from

education to building projects.

Check out our Facebook page to see a video of

the NUS and Epona in India, meeting the work-

ers who provide the cotton.

3

GETTING TO KNOW YOU

Name: Debra

Job Title: University Retail Shop Supervisor

What does your job entail?

I have just returned from 14 months maternity

leave in December and am absolutely loving

being back at work! Thanks to Pia for covering

me! My main role is to run the student shops at

Howlands and Queens and I have recently taken

over responsibility of the Botanic Garden Shop. I

also organise and run all of the events we as a

department hold, as well as organising any pro-

motional enquiries for the University.

1. Do you have any pets?

Yes, I have two guinea pigs called Skittles and

Biscuit and I love them to bits. They are almost 5

now and that is actually really old for a guinea

pig. There has been a guinea pig in the family

since I was small and it turned into a small ob-

session!

2. What are you reading at the moment?

Reading…..I don’t have time for hobbies with a 15 month old!

3. Which historical figure would you most

like to be?

Is it really dumb of me to say I honestly can’t think of anyone apart from Henry VIII????

4. What was your best subject at school?

My best subject at school was Maths. I was

actually awarded the highest mark in the school,

only 3 marks away from an A* (cough…..swot!)

5. What did you want to be when you were a

child?

From a young age I always wanted to be a vet. I

had a lot of work experience in different veteri-

nary practices and all was going great until I

realised I had an awful fear of worms, caterpil-

lars and creepy crawlies! I then changed my

mind to a lawyer and was awarded a 2:1 degree

in law at Northumbria University. Jobs in this

sector are hard to come by though but I am quite

happy at the minute working for Durham Univer-

sity Retail Office.

6. Where will you be going for your next holi-

day?

I am going to a holiday park in Morecambe Bay

for a week in April. A week full of action packed

‘Butlins type’ activity for Alysia should be great

fun! We are then planning on going to Majorca in

September which will actually be our first family

holiday abroad!

7. What is your favourite drink?

Three words…..gin and tonic!

8. What skill or talent would you most like to

acquire?

I would love to be able to sing! Nursery rhymes

at playgroup with a voice like mine can be highly

embarrassing!

9. What’s your greatest vice?

This answer probably comes from my husband

mind but I am so impatient and I have to have

everything done yesterday! I like to think that I

am a very organised person and like to plan,

prepare and do everything with plenty of time to

spare. Whether this is a strength or a weakness

who knows but when you want the husband to

empty the bin, this must be now not next

week!!!!

10. What’s your favourite film?

Believe it or not my favourite film of all time is

Sister Act. It is just such a happy film and I have

loved it from a young age.

11. Do you have any nicknames?

Nothing exciting really other than Debs and

Deb….not Debbie though, I repeat my name is

not Debbie!

12. What’s your favourite place in the world?

Easy…bed! A close second would have to be

Malta. Me and my husband went there a few

years ago and it is such a beautiful place. We

are hoping to go back next year.

13. What one item would you take to a desert

island?

Oooo, a hard one. This would have to be a bag

full of chocolate (a big bag!) Oooo, can I hide a

mascara in there as well? Another essential I

find it hard to live without!

14. What would be your ideal day?

My ideal day would start off with a chat with

Justin Timberlake… (obviously!) Then a nice

meal with my husband and daughter and then

ending it with a lovely family party with lots or

Prosecco!

15. What achievement are you most proud

of?

I am most proud of my daughter Alysia. She

means the world to me and is such a clever,

happy and fun little character. I am so proud to

have her in my life and would not change her for

the world!

SOCIAL MEDIA NEWS

We have been working hard

on expanding our social media

reach by increasing the num-

ber of platforms we are on.

We now have a Google+ page,

so make sure you add us into

one of your circles or give us a

follow!

The Retail Office now has a

Hootsuite account, thanks to

the help of Rachel Smith, the

Library Communications and

Marketing Officer. She has

helped advise us on posting

techniques and the functions

of Hootsuite. Thank you Ra-

chel!

Hootsuite is a Social Media

platform that allows you to

schedule the posts you make

which means you should see

us posting at weekends even

though we are not in the office!

We are continuing to increase

our following on both Face-

book and Twitter, and (at the

point of writing) we have a

fantastic 273 ‘Likes’ on Face-

book and 512 followers on

Twitter, if you’re not one of

them please do take a look at

the pages. Help us get to 300

Likes by suggesting us to your

friends!

Durham University

Retail Office

Durham University

Retail Office

@DurhamUniRetail

Durham University

Retail Office

4

As you may know, the latest round of mystery shopping has recently taken place and we are pleased to report some positive results.

We had two mystery shoppers go around each outlet (except the Botanic Gardens which only had one shopper) and assess the shops

across 5 areas: Entering the store, Browsing the store, Customer Service, Marketing and Overall Experience. We are pleased to re-

port that there has been an increase in the number of ’excellent’ results achieved across all outlets!

Mystery shopper results are very subjective and people mark them very differently. It is worth remembering that the same two people

did not go around every shop, making it difficult to compare between outlets. It is not the purpose of this mystery shop to offer a com-

parison between outlets because they all offer very different services and are located in very different locations. It is more useful to

enable each outlet to look at its previous results and see what they can learn from and what they can be encouraged about! I f you

would like a copy of your mystery shop with all of the ratings and comments then please drop Amelia an e-mail at:

amelia.monks@durham.ac.uk

MYSTERY SHOPPING RESULTS

SALES!

Our 2 week January sale

was a roaring success

with sales up by 46% com-

pared to the previous two

weeks!

New Freezer

at Howlands !

GREAT NEWS!

We have a new freezer at our Howlands Shop! After several months of our freezer unfortunate-ly being out of action we now have a replacement ! This is now filled with exciting goodies such as burgers, pizzas, ice cream, sau-sages, chicken, chips and more!

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PGL Shop BotanicGarden

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2014 February

Mystery Shop

Results

2015 February

Mystery Shop

Results

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Free Entry to the Botanic Garden 10:00am to 5:00pm

Free Entry to Palace Green Library 10:00am to 4:30pm Free entry to the exhibitions "Vietnam: A Nation, not a War" and "On Seeing the Author: Por-traits in Libraries from Antiquity to the Present". World Heritage Site Tours 11.00am and 1.30pm Free tours of the World Heritage Site. Places are limited and must be pre-booked.

We have a new range of stock at the Botanic Gardens so don’t miss your chance to get a beautiful Mother’s Day gift!

20% OFF SALE AT HOWLANDS AND QUEENS SHOP

The student shops at Josephine Butler College and Queens Campus are having a 20% off sale for all Official Durham University Merchandise clothing ranges. It is lasting for 4 weeks until the end of term with different clothing items on offer each week, with the first sale starting Monday 16th February!

Week 1 (16/2 - 22/2) Hoodies

Week 2 (23/2 – 1/3) Tops

Week 3 (2/3 – 8/3) Bottoms

Week 4 (9/3 – 15/3) Hoodies again

This is being advertised far and wide so lets work together to get the word out and get those tills ringing!

Look out for English Tourism Week from 14th to 22nd March 2015. Multiple

events will be taking place throughout the week at various Durham University visitor attractions.

The following offers will also be available on 29th March to celeb

rate English Tourism:

Durham Castle Tours

Free tour of Durham Castle. Tours will take place on the hour from 10am until 4pm.

Places are limited and must be pre-booked.

Free Entry to the Oriental

Museum

12:00pm to 5:00pm Includes Easter gallery trail.

6 www.durham.ac.uk/shop

Durham University Retail Office

Mountjoy Centre, Maple Wing

Stockton Road

Durham

DH1 3LE

Phone: 0191 334 3902

E-mail: shop@durham.ac.uk

Our staff have been very busy these past few months and here are a few achievements that

we are proud to share:

Susan Howden and Karen Carass. The Retail Office would like to say a special

thank you to Susan and Karen from our Queens Shop for all of their hard work during the

sale. They really are pushing the sales to beat all of our targets!

Jayne Setchell. Thank you to Jayne who attended a world host training day, giving her

lots of information about Durham and the importance of customer service. She met with

others who work in tourism in County Durham and is bringing all of the skills learnt back into

her role within PGL shop!

As ever there is lots going on

across the University… here is a

quick glance at some of the high-

lights coming soon:

5th March - Chinese New Year

Lantern Festival at the Oriental

Museum

8th March - Holi Festival at the

Oriental Museum

14th March - Make a present for

Mothers Day at the Botanic Gar-

den

21st - 22nd March - Celebrate

world poetry day with Palace

Green Library .

28th March - 12th April - Chick

Challenge ad Easter Gallery Trail

at the Oriental Museum.

COMING UP…

STAFF SPOTLIGHT

STAFF RECOGNITION AWARDS

The Recognition Awards is an annual event that we all look forward

to, an opportunity for departments to come together and celebrate the

successes of University Retail, Event Durham and Catering. It is a

key celebration event in everyone's calendar! The evening started with

some complimentary bubbly and a yummy buffet provided by the ca-

tering team.

Vicky acted as a judge this year and said “It was so difficult to choose

as everyone has worked so hard!”

This year we brought home 2 certificates for individuals who were

highly commended and 1 category winner! We couldn’t have been

happier! We had a great night celebrating our departments’ success

and enjoying the music!

We hope to carry on these successes into next year, and thank every-

one for their commitment to their work and for giving so much support

to each other at the ceremony.

The following individuals received recognition:

Jayne Setchell (from PGL Shop) was highly commended in “Upseller of the Year

Award” (picture below).

Lesley King (from PGL Shop) was highly commended in “Best Customer Service Award”

Laura Eglinton (from Howlands Shop) was Winner in “Behind the Scenes

Award” (picture above).

Congratulations again!!!