Pink and perky in pandemic
Novel business weathers the storm with global boost in online orders
ANYBODY travelling through Fratton will have seen its bright pink exterior.
One of Portsmouth’s most unusual shops Tofu Cute has not only caught the eye of passing city residents – it has also attracted worldwide attention, selling its products online as a way of surviving lockdown.
Manager Laska Goldsack said: ‘ When the pandemic hit, the shop had to shut and half of our team were furloughed. Surprisingly, throughout the pandemic, our orders increased by a huge amount. We have been extremely lucky. It was a very worrying time, not being able to let anybody through the door, but our orders skyrocketed and we are very grateful to our customers for that.’
The shop, which opened in December 2014 in Kingston Road, sells products in the Japanese ‘Kawaii’ style.
Its most popular products are cute and colourful plush items and Japanese snacks such as pocky sticks and DIY candy sets that come like a science set and allow people to make their own sweets.
Laska, from Fratton, said: ‘People were trapped at home and bored so we sold out of the DIY sweet sets straight away. They were looking for a bit of fun that they could do at home.
‘We were so busy with our online orders – shipping everywhere. As we had a smaller number of staff, people had to wait a bit longer than usual for their orders but they were very patient and we had some lovely comments saying how our products brought a massive smile to their faces when they arrived.
‘It was lovely to get that feedback. It really helped keep us motivated.’
The business was the brainchild of co-owners
Rosanna Mackney, also known as Zanni, and Rob Fulton, both from North End.
They set up dreamybows. com and tofucute.com 10 years ago and quickly gained a cult following of fans.
The business usually attends numerous conventions throughout the year, but these were also cancelled due to coronavirus.
The shop had plans to celebrate its 10th year in business but these had to be shelved, and instead they moved some of their promotions and competitions online instead.
Laska said: ‘It is something that we are really proud of. When we started out as a new business we didn’t know what would happen but it has been great. We have made it to 10 years – and we couldn't have a better team or better customers.’