Hawkin's Bazaar Blog

New Hawkin Catalogue

Most of you should have now received our latest catalogue. If you haven’t click here to sign up to receive one.  

Flicking through the catalogue is a real treat this year and for me brings memories flooding back, as there are so many gifts I remember from when I was a child.

One of my favourites is something I had completely forgotten had existed - Time Shock.  

I used to love this game, and from what I remember provides plenty of laughs as the final frantic few seconds tick away before the pieces go flying all over the place. I will definitely be adding this to my wish list this year. I am sure it will provide plenty of family fun.

So if you haven’t already had a look through the catalogue we advise you do, it is great fun.

Or if you prefer you can enjoy some quality online time to mosey through our website.

New Hawkin Store in Shrewsbury

A quick update to let you all know that we have recently opened a new store in Shrewsbury.

We are on the upper level of the Darwin Centre opposite Ernest Jones.

For full details on how to find the new store click here.

If you are in the neighbourhood pop in and say hello.

Indoor Fireworks Offer

Do you love Indoor Fireworks?

If you do then you will love our latest offer.

We are giving away 20 Free Indoor Fireworks (worth £9.99) to customers who spend £60 or more before the 11th October.

 

Check out our full Terms & Conditions on the offer.

New stores open in Crawley and Gyle

We have recently opened two new stores.

In Crawley - the store can be found on the lower floor at the County Mall Shopping Centre. Between WH Smith and Ernest Jones. 

The new Gyle store can be found next to Trespass and opposite WH Smith in the Gyle Shopping Centre, Edinburgh.  

If you live close by to either of the stores please pop in and say hello we would love to see you.

Another Winner!

It really is mostly about competitions this week – we've already had one winner on Monday (see 30 June post) and now we have another. Fiona from Avon has won our monthly product review writing competition, with this review of our Music Maker:

"Quite frankly the best musical instrument you can buy for a child, or anyone fascinated by different instruments. We first came across this wonderful instrument in the lounge of a hotel on holiday, where the beautiful sound of it captivated the whole family to the point that I asked where it had come from. The answer? You guessed, Hawkin's Bazaar! I have been buying toys and gifts here ever since! The instrument is easy to play even for a novice, and appeals to adults as well as children.
Simply the best thing I have ever bought from Hawkin’s Bazaar."

Fiona wins £50 of Hawkin’s Vouchers to spend on her choice of fun and tomfoolery. If you would like to be automatically entered into next month's competition, just add a review to the bottom of any product page on our website.

Rubik's Cube Genius

Our Basingstoke shop recently had a visit from a very talented young chap called Alex (on the left), who’s 12. Alex boasted that he could solve the Rubik’s cube in under 1 minute and much to everyone’s delight and amazement, he was absolutely right. Not only that but he went on to solve it blindfolded (apparently he memorizes the corner colours!). Alex agreed to stay in store for a few hours demonstrating his incredible Rubik’s abilities to fascinated customers.
Click here to see a video of Alex in action.

Up Close and Personal

We have a winner! Entries have flooded in to our 'Up Close and Personal' competition, ever since we set the task of identify some of our best loved products from obscure close up images, in the second edition of the Bazaar Times. The competition is now closed and we can confirm the lucky winner of the £50 Hawkin's Bazaar voucher is Carolynne Woodgate, who correctly gave the following answers:

1: Ten Move Puzzle Box
2: Techno Robot
3: Fisher Price Two Tune TV
4: Stylophone
5: Squishy Mesh Ball
6: Weather House

Congratulations to Carolynne, commiserations to everyone else who entered. But don't be down-hearted we have exciting new competitions coming very soon. Watch this space.

Unexpected visitors

It’s not every day you’ll be served by Giraffes in one of our shops, but that’s exactly what happened in our Chelmsford store last week. Quite a crowd was drawn when a family of five Giraffes wandered in to the store and started taking over. Ok, they were French people dressed as Giraffes, but the costumes where remarkably realistic.

It was a week of surprise visits, with Fifi and Bumble also turning up in our Poole store. Apparently the stars of children’s television were driven into the store to shelter from bad weather and received a warm and dry welcome from the Hawkin shop team. We can't wait to see what will happen next?

What a Racket

We spoke to a very nice lady called Fae yesterday. Apparently she had been in one of our shops and played our Miniature Accordion. We understand she made quite a ruckus, but we don’t mind that, especially as she has featured it on the shopping page of the TVHits website. Click here to read what Fae had to say.

You Won't Believe Your Eyes!

	A debate has been bubbling away at Hawkin HQ for the last few weeks  over these amazing visual illusions. The problem is the incredible  visual effect is 3 dimensional – very difficult to describe or  replicate on a flat page or screen. But Fergus Sullivan, the brains  behind the images is very passionate about his product (rightly so) and  convinced us to try them - they are very good and after all, they are  the perfect Hawkin curiosity, brand new and unlike anything you are  likely to have seen before.
They aren't in any Hawkin publication, but finally available on our website. There are two designs - click on the links below to read all about them.
London Moving Eye Illusion Trick of the Eye Illusion

It's a Jungle Out There

Gemma Harvey is the latest to capture the natural behaviour of one of our toys in wild. This wind-up caterpillar was photographed in the swamps of deepest, darkest Devon and later, hitching a cheeky ride on
the back of a ferocious Turkish Tortoise.

If you should see any of our wee beasties roaming the world make sure you send us a picture - if we publish it in the Bazaar Times it will earn you a £20 Hawkin voucher.