Page 20 - Toy & Hobby Retailers Magazine Feb-Apr 2020
P. 20

SUPPLIER PROFILE
ZIMBLER
90 years strong
The Zimbler business has been in operation for 90 years. Interested to know what makes this business tick, Imogen Bailey spoke to Zimbler managing director Jonathan Zimbler to find out more.
ZIMBLER IS A FAMILY BUSINESS – PLEASE DESCRIBE THE BENEFITS OF RUNNING A FAMILY BUSINESS There are many benefits of operating a family business but we think the prime one is that you are responsible for the operation of the business and its future. When my grandfather, Joel’s great grandfather, started the business in 1929, they were in furs and skins – importing the skins from Europe, Russia and Canada. My father Peter only joined the business around 1937 and worked with his father until he joined the RAAF during 1939 and then returned after war ended.
Soon after Peter’s father died in 1956 he took action to change the direction of the business. He was always interested in hobbies as his uncles back in UK often sent him presents; one of them was an early model airplane engine and aircraft kit. It seemed hobbies, and later toys, were in his blood and apparently these types of changes can only happen in a family business where the owner, or in our case the MD, was in control of most facets of the business.
In the early 1960s Zimbler was distributing the Airfix plastic kit from the UK. These
were very new to the market and as my dad had a real interest in aircraft after being in the RAAF, selling them to Hearns Hobbies and Hartley’s where John Laing (CF Barnes & T&H Australia) worked as a 16-year-old who had newly migrated from Scotland.
John always jokes to me how my dad would walk into the hobby department and before
he broached the counter to discuss business; my dad had already scanned the shelves and told him many of the products that were out of stock. How could John argue with that? So an order was forthcoming.
By late 1968, when I joined the business, model trains were added with quality products like; Peco (still the industry standard); the very first N scale trains from Minitrix; Bachmann Trains, which we sold for over 45 years; quite a range of plastic kits from Aurora and later Ertl; and, Entex and military figures from Fujimi, supplied through Marianne Trading (MJM).
As we entered the 2000s, with Joel now working in the business and retail tastes changing, the business was appointed the agents for Carrera slot cars around 2001 and Bruder Toys in 2007. It
was from this era onward the proportion of toys sales became larger than hobby, due mainly to Joel’s direction and Glenn McLean – who joined the business in 2016 – making the pair of them a great buying and sales team.
Maisto, with its huge die cast and RC ranges moved to exclusive distribution in 2016, then adding the newly launched BB Junior preschool range in 2017 and finally Bburago in 2019.
PLEASE DETAIL A FOND MEMORY YOU HAVE OF RUNNING THE ZIMBLER BUSINESS
Some of my greatest memories have been watching Joel and Samuel working during school holidays in the warehouse, both of
them continuing on to university and Joel then deciding that working at Zimbler was something he was keen to do.
Trips to Nuremberg have been amazing and I have seen huge changes over 30+ years of making the trip. Joel has joined me on this trip for the past 10 years and this has been a huge bonus to be able to work together in cementing relationships and finding new product.
20 TOY & HOBBY RETAILER FEBRUARY / MARCH / APRIL 2020


































































































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