After more than 30 years running the family business, John Fielding, managing director of Langleys, tells Jess Staufenberg about why he is selling one of Norwich's best-loved toyshops.
Tucked down Norwich's iconic Royal Arcade since 1883, Langleys has weathered toy fads, iPads, the arrival of Amazon and economic recession in the hands of the Fielding family.
Having been bought in 1971 by Tom Fielding with several other shops in the city, his son John will have passed Langleys on to new owners by mid-2016.
Mr Fielding, who runs Langleys with director and wife Sharon, first began work in the shop under his father as an 11-year-old school boy during the summer of 1973.
After returning from business school at Bristol Polytechnic, he began full-time in 1984 and has successfully brought the shop through multiple changes in the industry and popular culture.
'It's been about reinventing ourselves,' he said. 'The landscape is changing constantly. In the mid-80s Argos was dominating the scene, then it declined and now it's Amazon.
'The main challenge has been dozens of competitors arriving, both online and just a stone's throw from the shop door.'
While Langleys' sales volumes are smaller than in the 80s, the shop has carved a niche for itself through a mixture of online retail and novelty games not found in mainstream stores.
'We look at interesting and different products so we're not competing with big department stores with perhaps less imagination,' continued Mr Fielding. 'We are small enough to move quickly on our feet when there's a craze. But we've also grown novelty sections, like adults games.'
Games such as Carcasonne, Cards Against Humanity and even imitation muskets and swords have seen a steady adult (predominantly male) market coming through the shop doors, as well as children and parents.
Other classics from the 1980s such as Lego and Sylvanian Families have stood firm, while brand crazes riding the back of film releases and TV shows come and go, said Mr Fielding.
'Star Wars was the first film to become a proper toy brand,' he said. 'There are so many TV stations now, it's harder to recreate that success but they keep coming.
'One thing some parents say to me is their children have so many toys they don't actually play with them.
'But children have always wanted time and attention, so whether it's a toy or a book it's really about sharing it with someone.'
Apart from anticipating customer interests, the Langleys businessman said flexibility in pricing has been one of the biggest changes since the shop started out in the seventies.
Calculating profitability is crucial to staying afloat, he said, rather than inflexibly fixing a price margin and concentrating on turnover.
It was this which contributed towards the demise of Woolworths in 2008, said Mr Fielding, whose closure brought £300m, or 11pc, back into the toy market for its competitors.
Asked for his favourite memory, Mr Fielding replied it was a toss-up between his 17 staff and dressing up as the Toymaster puppy for passers-by on Gentleman's Walk.
'It's like a party in my office,' he concluded. 'Sometimes I have more fun in there than going to an actual party, which seems a bit ridiculous.'
Though he does not have a buyer confirmed yet, 54-year-old Mr Fielding and his wife are planning to make more use of their camper van and his microlite plane once their legacy to children across Norwich is in new hands.
The shop's history
The Royal Arcade was designed in 1899 in art nouveau style by Victorian architect George Skipper, who also designed the Norwich Union headquarters in Surrey Street and Cliftonville Hotel in Cromer.
James Langley, a local businessman who had opened the first Langleys toyshop in 1883 on Prince of Wales Road, bought out his competitor Galpins Toyshop in the Royal Arcade in 1925 to open his second.
Langleys in the Royal Arcade was a treat for generations of children, changing hands and moving premises in the Arcade when local entrepreneur Tom Fielding bought it in 1971.
Now part of the Toymaster chain, Langleys under the Fielding family has been one of fewer than 400 independent toy stores left in the UK.
Its current owner, John Fielding, received his first pay cheque in the shop when working for his father as a 12-year-old, and will finally sell the shop after more than 30 years in the coming months.
• Do you have a business story? Contact Jess Staufenberg on jessica.staufenberg@archant.co.uk or call 01603772531.
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