Meet the man behind Whirligig toys in Chichester

He said: “My nieces and nephews were six, seven and eight. A lot of the toys were either for babies or from film franchises or boxes filled with air.

“I saw there was a need for toys for that age range that they could play with. Items such as puzzles and games, things they can get involved in.”

Peter opened his first Whirligig Toys store in Brighton in 2012.

The South Street shop in Chichester opened its doors in 2014.

Peter said: “We love being part of the Chichester community, there is such a nice vibe in Chichester with lots of independent retailers, and people come here for a day out which is what we love.”

All the stock is picked by Peter, he chooses toys that will last and have play value (cost per play, the more they play with it the cheaper the toy becomes).

Many of the games change to challenge the child in different ways as they get older.

He said: “I love games that you need to have logic and challenge the children to think and can get harder.

“I play with everything and so do our team members. They all get to take the toys home, play with them and let their children play with the games and toys.

“So we know what we are talking about, if people come to us and have questions we know what we are selling. This is something that is really important to me. “

When the country went into lockdown Whirligig’s website went from having 100 products online to more than 2,500 with each of the product descriptions written by Peter and the staff.

Peter said: “We have a service where people can get in touch with us and ask for help either over the phone or email. They will tell us what age the child is, what they like and we will send them three items we think they will like and sort that out. We have a handwritten birthday card service and giftwrapping. So we can do it all.”

The store also runs a competition where parents send in pictures of the children with the things they have made and prizes are awarded to the best ones. The winner are then shown in the hall of fame in the shop.

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