Seasonal star Calendar Club is already on the lookout for sites for its 2009 trading season. Graham Parker reports

Over the past decade, Calendar Club, with its colourful displays, has become a common sight in shopping centres across the UK as it follows its mission to supply customers with what it calls “The best selection of calendars in the known universe”.

When the company was founded in 1998 by Gary Beck and Hendrik Vollers, it traded from just 12 sites. But last season, 257 locations across the UK and Ireland were open, making Calendar Club the largest seasonal retailer in the UK.

Vollers puts the brand’s success down to the customer loyalty it engenders. “Customers enjoy the in-store experience and the unparalleled choice of titles,” he says. “You can always find that perfect present for the most difficult person in a Calendar Club store.”

And he says there’s something very personal about choosing a calendar as a Christmas gift. “We have a vast choice, reasonably priced,” he says. “They’re useful to boot and they act as a reminder of the donor throughout the following year.”

Reflecting this, Calendar Club won the Best Short-Term Merchant Award at Shopping Centre’s SCEPTRE Awards for three years running.

Property director Bill Nettlefield has worked hard to build an equally strong brand awareness in the shopping centre industry, and Calendar Club trades in most major shopping centres in the UK.

Trading takes place from the beginning of October to the third week of January and Nettlefield says: “Our presence is an enormous asset to any shopping centre in the run-up to Christmas, as it has become a real destination shop and a recognised national specialist retailer driving customer footfall.”

For many centres the arrival of Calendar Club marks the beginning of Christmas just as much as the Christmas decorations going up.

Roughly half of the locations are in shop units taken on temporary licenses, and the other half are mall units. Nettlefield says if he is offered a choice his preference would be for a mall unit, because it gives Calendar Club consistency of location from year to year. A temporary shop let is unlikely to be available next year.

But he adds that in the biggest malls, like centre:mk, the MetroCentre and Arndale Manchester, the company isn’t afraid to ‘double up,’ taking both a temporary shop and a mall unit.

“In terms of size, we need a minimum of 700 sq ft in a shop unit, or clear mall space of 11ft by 17 ft for our standard fit-out,” says Nettlefield. “Calendar Club provides the ultimate ‘shop in a box’ that can be built to a high professional standard and start trading in as little as five hours.”

Landlords are fully aware of the added value that Calendar Club brings to a shopping centre’s retail offer and Nettlefield keeps a file of feedback from centre managers. Some of the reviews are outstanding. For instance the St John’s Centre in Leeds said: “Always a very well planned and delivered operation. Traded all centre hours over and above the miminum – better than some stores.”

The Dolphin Centre in Poole said: “The staff were always helpful and willing to do any tasks asked of them. Nothing was too much trouble and the store opened every day on time. We look forward to seeing them again in 2009.”

And the centre:mk commented: “Consistently provide excellent 5 star products and services for our customers. Always a pleasure to work with Calendar Club and the team.”

Even though there are still six months to go until Calendar Club starts to trade, Nettlefield works year-round securing the best locations, and he often gets the first call from a centre manager or an agent when an empty shop or mall space becomes available. He expects to acquire the same number of stores as last year, perhaps with a slight increase.

“Calendar Club sees itself as a top quality retailer, and one that avoids price wars with competitors, concentrating its efforts instead on providing quality products at a good price combined with excellent customer service,” he concludes.