Jellycats: Popular Edinburgh toy shop dropped suddenly by viral soft toy brand Jellycat

Toys Galore, an independent toy shop in Morningside, took to social media on Wednesday calling out the global company after receiving a letter informing them that Jellycat would no longer be supplying its products to the business.

The letter said the decision to drop the store was made as part of a new “brand elevation strategy”.

The collectable soft toys have exploded in popularity in recent years and are hugely sought after, with demand having boomed among Gen Z consumers in particular.

Toys Galore said Jellycat’s products represented 8 per cent of the Morningside store’s sales.

The store said: “It is an extraordinary decision for Jellycat to turn their back on loyal stockists who have supported Jellycat for many years.

“Jellycat has been around for 25 years and has become hugely successful. However, they wouldn’t have got anywhere without the support of independent shops, who were prepared to invest time, effort and money promoting their product.

“Rather than reward the stockists who have supported them over decades, they choose to pull the rug.”

Store management said when they reached out to Jellycat for an explanation, they received no response, claiming they had been “ghosted” by the brand.

“What strikes us about how this has been handled is the contempt not only shown towards us, but to our customers too,” a post from the store said. “If customers want to buy Jellycat from us instead of some high end department store, why shouldn’t they? None of our other suppliers have ever treated us with such disrespect.”

Toys Galore said the boom in Jellycat sales had helped the outlet recover from a difficult period after the Covid pandemic.

The Morningside store is not the only one to have been dropped by Jellycat in recent months. The company said in a statement it had stopped supplying around 100 stores as part of its new strategy.

A Jellycat spokesperson said: “We are big supporters of small business stockists and today there are over 1,200 independent stores across the UK stocking Jellycat. They've been the backbone of our business for over two decades and this will continue long into the future as we build our teams and upgrade our systems to support them better.

“Unfortunately we’re not able to support every shop that wants to stock Jellycat and, after very careful consideration, we recently ceased supplying about 100 stores.

“We are very sorry about this and the hurt it has caused for those retailers and their customers. Slightly reducing our stockists by 8 per cent will help us to give better service to the remaining 92 per cent, so they can offer their customers the best possible Jellycat experience.”

Jellycat said it was “humbled” by its recent recent growth and was continuing to work hard to supply stockists of all sizes.

Commenting on the Toys Galore post, another shop owner said: “Jellycat used to be fair and support independents - I couldn’t stock in my toy shop in Warwickshire as there was another shop in town. We thought fair enough.

“Glad you’re highlighting how independents build brands and then are dumped.”

Another user said: “I'm disgusted with the number of fabulous shops that have received this letter. I for one will be boycotting Jellycat from now on.”

The explosion of Jellycat toys is part of a trend dubbed ‘kidulthood’, which has seen millions of adults buying kids toys and games. Despite being established 25 years ago, Jellycat became an obsession during Covid and saw a frenzy on TikTok in 2023.

The brand’s account on TikTok has 23.7 million likes and new lines sell out instantly, with people queuing for hours outside stores to get hold of new plushies when they are released.