How, Where & When To Buy From Our Showrooms
As with other lines of business, the children’s wear trade has its own peculiarities, which can be confusing to begin with. For example, collections intended for sale within your shop for the Autumn/Winter period of any year, are generally available for viewing and ordering from ourselves, from mid December of the preceding year, until the end of March of the relevant year, i.e. for retail sale during that Autumn/Winter. Deliveries of larger collections are frequently staggered by the manufacturers (Tradespeak = Delivery Capsules) throughout a season, typically starting in July for the Autumn/Winter period, finishing deliveries some time in September or October.
Conversely, the Spring/Summer collections are typically available for viewing from mid June until mid September, for delivery between January and April of the following year. From this, you can see that certain parts of a collection can come very early in a season, which is something you have to take into consideration. The exact start and finish dates for viewing depends on when the full sample collection(s) arrives with us from the factory, bearing in mind that dates do vary from brand to brand, from season to season, and year to year. If you intend visiting us for a particular brand, either very early, or very late in a season, then please check with us beforehand as to the date availability of that brand.
Manufacturers have to undertake a considerable number or steps to produce the frequently large range of clothes that come together to form a collection, and it never ceases to amaze us how much time and effort is put into this unending process. Because of the various steps involved in manufacture, which not only includes the design and the actual manufacture of garments, but includes having the fabric(s) made in the first place, a process often carried out in a completely different location, or even country. There is inevitably a ‘lead & lag’ effect time wise between orders being placed by yourselves, and the time the finished articles arrive on your doorstep. As a consequence of this, everyone in the retail clothing business, when ordering, has to rely heavily on intuition and hard worn experience, plus a good measure of luck. When predicting what to buy for your sales period six months ahead, you need to ask yourself what the weather is likely to bring, as this will have a great affect on your sales. A very hot summer will result in few raincoats being sold, whilst a wet one will see fewer traditional summer items being sold. If you think predicting sales for your shop is bad enough, then you ought to try predicting for the whole country, as we do, or worldwide, as the manufactures have to do.
Our normal office hours during the sales period are from 9.00am to 5.00pm (09.00 to 17.00hrs) However, due to the large amount of one to one selling that takes place, you might find the answer-phone on during busy times. If so, please leave a message, and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible, or alternatively, e-mail us on sales@vanhuizen.co.uk. Please note that you will find a large amount of helpful information on our HELP page, here on this web-site, where you can find large amount of detail, especially regarding paying your bills, re-ordering, returns, etc, so please do have a look at this first whenever you need information, as you will find most answers here.
Showrooms - How to find us by road
Our showrooms are situated in Melksham, Wiltshire, which is roughly 10 miles east of Bath, i.e. the London side, which if travelling by car, can be found by exiting the Bristol to London M4 motorway at Junction 17. If you have a Sat-Nav, we suggest you use it, but for those who don’t have one, have left it at home, or have forgotten how to use it, then the following instructions will get you here.
1. Find your way to Junction 17 of the M4 and head south from there on the A350, signposted for Chippenham
2. After a couple of miles of dual carriageway, at the first roundabout you come across, rather than going on into Chippenham, effectively turn right and follow the A350 ring road, signposted to Melksham, Trowbridge & Poole.
3. Continue on the A350 for a further 8 miles or so, passing through a further number of roundabouts on the way
4. When you first enter Melksham you will see a Subway sandwich shop on your left, alongside a BP petrol station. From here continue over the 1st small roundabout, and ½ mile on, you will find yourself approaching a very large roundabout. Keep in the right hand lane.
5. As you will be coming back on yourself from the roundabout, you need to take the 4th exit, and then keep in the left hand lane, and then you will find yourself heading towards Bath.
6. After ¼ mile, having gone over a hump back railway bridge, the first road on your right is Roundponds. Turn into this road, and you will see our building immediately on your left, with its highly visible Van Huizen signs. We have numerous places available for customer car parking, so no worries there.
Click here for a map
Coming by Train or Plane?
If you are a customer who intends to arrive by train or plane, then please note the following, and click on the pink heading for further details:
1. Bristol Airport is the nearest to ourselves, and although not too far in terms of miles, the cross country nature of the route means that the 30 mile journey takes about an hour to cover.
2. Chippenham Railway Station is our nearest, and is on the main London, Paddington to Bristol Parkway/Swansea rail route. The journey from London normally takes about 1hour 30 minutes, with trains running every ½ hour. It is advisable to ask for seat reservations when purchasing your ticket if at all possible, especially for use during peak periods, as this is a busy route, and seats can often be at a premium. Please note that generally, all Paddington – Bristol Parkway/Swansea trains stop at Chippenham, whilst the London – Bristol, Temple Meads trains do not.
3. Taxi? For anyone wishing to use the service a taxi, then there are normally many to be found around the station or airport, but these can be expensive to use. We have struck up a working relationship with a small local company called Roundabout Travel, who have a web-site, which can be used to book a taxi trip, or you can free-phone them on 0800 848 8716, or on 01225 766716.
Short Term Tourist?
For those of you who need to spend a night or two in the area when visiting our showrooms, then please take a look at the following web-sites for information on places to stay and visit.
Many of our customers, especially those with families, make a mini-break of their time here in West Wiltshire, and do so time and time again, with the picturesque village of Lacock being particularly popular, especially as this National Trust owned village is only a ten minute drive away. You might find the following websites useful in planning any aspect of your visit.
For general information: http://www.visitwiltshire.co.uk/
For specific hotels not too far from our showrooms:
- The Pear Tree Inn
- The Red Lion
- Shaw Country Hotel
- Beechfield House
- The White Hart
- Last Minute Hotel Deals
European Children’s Wear Exhibitions
There are a number of good exhibitions taking place around Europe, normally on a twice yearly basis, some of which may provide you with sources of inspiration, and provide you with the ‘must have’ collections for your shop. Like everything else, the quality of these varies greatly from year to year, and from season to season. Italy in the summer normally reaches 40ºC plus, so if the heat is not for you, then think long and hard about venturing there during the summer.
‘BUBBLE’ held at the Business Design Centre, 52, Upper St., Islington,
London N1 0QH, during January and July of each year.
Click here to enter the Bubble Web-site
'INDEPENDENT KIDS’ held at the Cranmore Avenue, Cranmore Park, Shirley, Solihull B90 4LF during February and July of each year.
Click here to enter the Independent Kids Web-site
‘KLEINE FABRIEK’ held at the International Children’s Trade Fair, Amsterdam Rai,
The Netherlands, during January and July of each year.
Click here to enter Kleine Fabriek Web-site
‘PITTI BIMBO’ held at the Fortezza da Basso, Florence, Italy, during January and July of each year.
Click here to enter Pitti Bimbo Web-site