Countdown to Christmas

At this time of year our minds start to turn towards colder weather, cosy nights in by the fire and of course the start of the countdown to Christmas.  Traditionally most families use an advent calendar to countdown the month of December and over recent years the toy advent calendar has grown in popularity.  The idea being that instead of opening a door and finding a picture or piece of chocolate behind it, the lucky person gets a small toy.  The box design is normally integral to the toys, allowing a small Christmas scene to be built up as all of the calendar doors are opened.  

 

The most popular of these has always been the LEGO Advent Calendar.  Last years successes of LEGO City & LEGO Star Wars themed Advent Calendars have been produced again, with different characters to collect in 2012.  Simply open a door each day to discover a new LEGO Minifigure or LEGO gift.  

New for 2012 is the LEGO Friends Calendar for children who love the new girl focused LEGO theme.  This advent calendar will feature 2 exclusive friends characters dressed in their Christmas outfits.  

As well as LEGO Advent Calendars this is the first year that children will be able to buy a Moshi Monsters Advent Calendar.  Filled with 24 special winter moshlings, including 7 limited edition Christmas moshlings (our favourite is IGGY in his Santa's hat), as well as a sack full of twistmas codes.   

All of these advent calendars are proving to be incredibly popular.  In fact last year we sold out of the entire range within just 1 week.  This year we've made sure that we have more stock available, but they are still selling fast.  If you don't want to be one of the people paying over the odds on online marketplaces at the end of November now's the time to place your order and start your countdown to Christmas!

 

Murray Mania hits Dunblane!

It's been a roller coaster of a few weeks thanks to the success of our town's local celebrity Andy Murray.  We'll confess, when the Olympics first started a couple of months ago we didn't think it would affect us!  Boy were we wrong.  The moment that gold paint hit the postbox in celebration of Andy Murrays Olympic Gold medal our local town has been a hive of activity.  There have been locals and tourists flocking to the High Street to have their picture taken and to buy the limited edition Andy Murray stamps.  

We've had a much busier town centre which has meant it's felt a little bit like Christmas to us.  Of course since Andy Murray won the US Open on Monday Murray Mania has really hit!  There is a big "Golden Glories" event happening in the town centre tonight to celebrate his Olympic success, which couldn't have been timed more beautifully if they had tried.  Andy Murray is heading to Dunblane tomorrow for a walk-about and to meet & greet his fans.  We have been told that the organisers of Andy Murray's visit are expecting around 10,000 - 15,000 people to descend on the town tomorrow - so goodness knows how this will affect our usual Sunday trade!

Anyway - it just goes to show that you can never totally predict how a big event, such as the Olympics, will truly affect you.  Our business, along with other traders on the High Street has enjoyed it's Murray Mania boost over the recent weeks.  On a personal note we are tennis fans and have loved watching him play...and just want to say from the entire Hub Team... "Well Done Andy!"

*cartoon courtesy of The Sun