Toyshop chain owner Gary Grant shared how his faith shaped not only the contents of his shop, but his whole approach to business in an interview in the late autumn.
Dyslexic, Gary Grant wasn’t interested in school at all, but said maths was ‘easy peasy’. He failed his 11-plus exam and hence went to what he calls ‘the failures’ school’, which he left at 16 with just one qualification – O-level maths. Now, however, despite having a finance director, he checks the weekly cash flow, signs every cheque and approves, or not, all outgoings.
His forensic attention to numbers has paid off. The Entertainer – named so they could switch sector if the toy idea failed – opened its first shop in 1981. It now has 110 UK stores, plus four overseas, and made a £7.8 million pre-tax profit for the year to the end of January – up almost a third on the previous year – on sales just shy of £130 million.
