Today we’d like to introduce you to Sean Griffin.
Hi Sean, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
Griff’s Gifts is a family-owned toy and gift store located in the Keller Town Center that opened in May 2021. The store is owned and operated by myself (Sean) and my wife (Rebecca Griffin) and an incredible team, including our two teenage sons. I currently work in pharmaceuticals for Galderma Laboratories in Dallas in research and development, but (for whatever reason) I always thought that owning a vintage toy store would be fun at some point in my life. I never really considered this seriously, but we hatched the idea of actually doing so during COVID of all times when we were looking for a way to connect with our two high school-age boys while also helping them learn valuable interpersonal and business skills at the same time. Rebecca was a teacher in Birdville ISD for more than fifteen years, and neither myself nor Rebecca had much retail experience apart from a few various jobs in high school and college. That said, we joked about it, cried about it, talked to parents and friends – some who thought we were nuts, others loved the idea – and also prayed about it quite a bit. We decided to jump in, and off we went to learning about retail leases, POS systems, HR policies, accounting, and expense management, along with the joys of vendors and margins. Neither of us really knew what we were doing, but amazingly it has all worked out great!
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
There have definitely been a few bumps along the way but once we figured things out we really feel fortunate to have had a fairly smooth run since we opened. Landing the lease was tricky because neither Rebecca nor myself had any history of success (or even attempting) in owning and/or operating a retail business, and of course, we had tons to learn, including the challenge of finding good staff and vendors. We also had a pretty limited budget to market the store, so finding ways to strategically promote our business has been a challenge. One example that paid off is that we had The Ticket radio station out for a live spot during the December 2021 Christmas season, and that was a hit for sure that people still talk about. It wasn’t cheap (and we debated the cost a bit in the household), but it worked out really well.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next, you can tell us a bit more about your business.
To help draw interest in the post-COVID shopper, we decided to differentiate, and instead of focusing solely on toys, Rebecca used her knack for decorating (and shopping!) to expand on the original plan and instead offer a fun combination of toys, gifts, and candy – all in one really amazing place (at least we think so).
While our biggest draws are our huge selection of Lego minifigures and retired sets, we also carry thousands of Pokémon cards and new toys for all ages. Basically, the back half of our 2500+ square foot store is fun toy stuff. One unique part of our store is a large Harry Potter section that has wands, props, candy, and other fun items for Harry Potter fans out there. This part of the store is balanced by the front, where we offer a wide variety of gifts for all ages (men and women!), including candles, soaps, Christian gifts, hand-crafted items by local artisans, and greeting cards from great brands like Dayspring and Lovepop. We also buy and sell vintage toys, Legos, and Pokémon and have a fantastic assortment of bulk chocolate and candy! Last but not least, we also off gift wrapping services in Keller – free for anything you buy at Griff’s – and we are the only store in Keller that does this.
How do you define success?
For us, honestly, success is about leaving a positive impact on each person that walks into our store. We do not operate the store for income (I did not quit my day job, and Rebecca works there for “free”), so we can offer great prices and really focus on the experience. If people leave happy, we feel that we did our job. We really want our kids to learn how important it is to practice what we preach and hear (our Christian faith is important to us) and how every personal interaction we all have every day is a precious moment because you never know how long we will be here.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://griffsgiftshop.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/griffsgifts/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GriffsGiftShop
