Shopping in Leek

We've caught up with Darren Ellerton from Jac-Q-Lyn's to talk about what it takes to work with Teddy Bears.

Q - How long have you been making Teddy Bears?
About 4-5 years now. Started off by buying my wife Jacqui a Teddy Bear kit from a Teddy Bear show. So really the Shop is more than just a business its also our hobby as well.

Q - So what do you think of the Leek area?
An absolutely fantastic area, very very friendly people, wonderful place to be, just can't say a bad word about Leek really. We've only been open in Leek now for 3 weeks and we really do like it here.

Q - There are a lot of Teddy Bears in your shop, but is this all of them?
No, we've got a lot more available and soon we'll be putting in new shelves which will accommodate many more, but still we'll have many which won't be put on display straight away, and we've got new deliveries coming in everyday as well with fresh new stock of both old and new Teddy Bears. We will be rotating our stock within the shop on a regular basis, so its well worth people popping into the shop as often as they wish to see what we have to offer.

Q - You can't help but to notice that you have quite a lot of collector's bears, what made you want to sell collector's Teddy Bears?
Well the Teddy Bears world is split into two groups, there is the Collectors Bear, which is traditionally made out of Mohair, and are made not as a toy but instead as a collector's item. The other side to the coin is the soft plush cuddly toy that you see in the highstreets. Obviously we sell both types, and the reason why we choose to both is that there is a demand for both and people do like to see both of these types.

Q - Why did you choose to open your shop in Leek?
We originally had a teddy Bear shop in Macclesfield, but we found that we were too far out of town, we had a wonderful historical premises which was built in 1600's, the problem we had was we were just too far out of town for passing trade so we needed to make a change. Macclesfield at the moment doesn't have much in the way of available retail premises, so we started to look into moving into another area, and Leek was one of the choices. We came along one evening and we just fell in love with the town and so we decided to make our roots here.

Q - So you've been open now for 3 weeks, so how are you doing in Leek?
Very well, We've done exceptionally well, and fingers crossed we'll carry on to do well into the future within Leek. Because we're just off the high street, the main street within Leek we've got a lot of interest from passing trade, and generally there seems to be a lot of interest in Collectable bears within the area. We're glad we've made the move.

Q - What kind of price range are the teddy Bears your selling?
Well we start at £2.99 and we go upto about £500.00, but sometimes we have antique bears which can go into the thousands. With these types of bears they have their own insurance, and we strongly suggest anyone who gets one to have insurance taken out to protect their latest member of the household. And we can help all our customers with how to set up insurance to cover the teddy bears, plus we give a documented certificate to say how much the Bear is worth. We suggest not to put on your homes content insurance as most only cover for several hundred pounds.

Q - So how do you look after an antique Teddy Bear?
Well we can give advise on each individual teddy Bear with how to look after the item, and if someone has already got an old teddy Bear which is in much need of minor repairs I could quite easily take care of this myself. But if its more like getting parts replaced then I suggest that the owner goes to a specialist who fully restores classic Teddy Bears, which there are several good one's within the UK, of which if needed, I can supply to the customer - not a problem.

Q - What if someone wants to actually make his or her own teddy Bear?
We can help them. We've been making teddy Bears ourselves for some four years now, so we carry an extensive range of fabrics, natural Mohair for people to make there own bears. We also sell kits and different fillings, joints and glass eyes, plus much more.

Q - So what are your opening times?
Well we're open 6 days a week - Monday to Saturday, and we open at 10am and close at 5pm. The only reason we don't open on a Sunday is because we travel across the UK going to different events for Teddy Bears, which lets us keep on track with what's happening within the Teddy Bear community.

Q - What if someone from outside of Leek wants one of your bears, can you help them?
Yes we can. We are more than happy to have a Teddy bear sent direct to our customers. Not a problem. All of our bears being sent via a courier will be insured as to protect their investment. We also do a plan for the people who feel its too expensive to pay for a bear directly upfront, we can take a bear off show and the person can make the payments over a 3 month or so period. This helps our customers and also makes it a little bit more affordable.

Thankyou for your time Darren, its been good to learn more about the world of teddy Bears.