The staff at the Sylvanian Families shop remember Laurette McFarlane fondly. Her mother had owned a toy museum, which gave her a lifelong love of toys. Even into her 80s, McFarlane collected the much-loved animal figures avidly from the Mountgrove Road store.
“She was a lovely lady,” says Ben Miller, 33, who has managed the shop for the last 10 years. “She would call up in the week just for a chat, to talk about what she was saving up for next.”
They honoured her in the most fitting way – they created a Sylvanian character in her honour, Laurette Macavity, grandmother to a family of cats.
McFarlane has since passed away, but lived to see herself immortalised as a toy. “She loved that,” says Miller. “Although the toy’s biography wasn’t necessarily based on her – she definitely wasn’t a chess champion.”
Bond with customers
This is typical of the bond that this unique shop forms with its diverse customers. The main clientele are the children whose parents fell in love with the brand when it first arrived in the UK more than 25 years ago, a second generation of Sylvanian lovers. There are of course also the hard-core collectors, the people who Miller calls “the obsessives – in a nice way”.
Some just come in to brighten up their day. “Children who come to London to go to Great Ormond Street Hospital often come here afterwards as a bit of a treat,” explains Miller.
In a world of Amazon 1-click ordering, a specialist store needs to work hard to compete, and everything is geared towards a magical experience for the young customers. This means the staff get into character, each adopting the name of a Sylvanian alter-ego. Miller, fittingly, is ‘Rocky Babblebrook’, a rabbit who owns the general store. “It was chosen for me, but I have embraced it,” he says.
Going the extra mile
The attention to detail is impressive. The shop stocks the entire UK range – including lines that have been discontinued – to ensure that nobody leaves disappointed.
Sometimes they literally go the extra mile. Recently, a courier damaged a toy sent last minute for a little girl’s birthday. Angela Harwood, one of the founders of the shop more than 20 years ago, drove two hours to deliver it personally, and ensure the girl’s birthday wasn’t ruined.
“I once got a letter which was a jiffy bag full of bits of otter,” says Miller. “It had been eaten by their new puppy. It said ‘please help my daughter out – she is distraught’.”
“We sent a spare with or a bandage on its arm and told them: ‘It’s good as new now – he’s better.’”
For Miller, who became a collector aged seven, Sylvanian families were a big part of his childhood. He says: “I’d save up my £3.50 – it would take me ages – just to get the next member of my otter family. It was a nice place to shut the door in my room and create this world.”
His role expands far beyond that of a shop assistant. He deals with the shop’s extensive list of international clients – they ship to Australia, Korea and South America, and helps to produce the content for the quarterly Collectors Club magazine, which boasts more than 20,000 readers.
Until a recent change of manufacturer, he was even involved in product design and development – families such as the Walnut Squirrels and Sea Otters have names and backstories created by him. “It’s nice to be able to look back and see something tangible that you did,” he says.
Understandably, Miller rejects the idea that the toys are just for girls. “The industry now groups toys by age, not gender, which is much better. Why shouldn’t a boy push a pram around and a girl play with a Tonka Truck?
“There’s enough in the range that it doesn’t have to be pink and girly – we have things like motorbikes and cars. But there’s no reason why a boy shouldn’t have the pink dress shop. You shouldn’t stereotype your children into what they should be playing with.”
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conoces alguna otra tienda de Sylvanian Families ??? soy de mexico
Omg, I’m pretty sure that distraught daughter was me!