Binky Moves Up in the world to Harrods and Selfridges

By Liz Nankivell

When we first started out on our Binky journey over five years ago it was a far-fetched dream that our books would be sold in Harrods and Selfridges, but that dream has become a reality and we are now in the exciting position of discussing and planning in-store promotions with the Harrod’s buyer!  So how did this all come about?

Liz explains: “An email arrived out of the blue and from someone I did not recognise. It said:‘You kindly sent my colleague a copy of “Binky Goes To London”.  I’m rather charmed by the title and would like to select it for our stores in Harrods and Selfridges.’

Well that sort of thing does not happen every day and after a celebratory mug of tea and a Hobnob, we set about supplying the Binky Bear series of books to the two most iconic stores in the land.

Every day, at Binky Bear HQ we sit down to one challenge or another, managing the requirements of self-publishing: self distributing, self-marketing, in fact pretty much self everything! But it was a moment of inspired genius back in April that made us wonder if we could get Binky into Harrods and wouldn’t that be amazing.  The brainwave we had was simple and profound…just phone the Harrods book department and ask who we should contact.  (Too many years in corporate life, respecting channels of communication can sometimes get in the way of a very simple task!)  Anyway, albeit at least 30 phone calls later and with the help of a brilliant switchboard operator we were starting to get closer to the right person. After a great deal of perseverance we had a name and we sent some sample books.  Now a few months on we are scoping out an exciting in-store promotion with Harrods so watch this space for some very special news!