July 2022

 

Welcome to our July 2022 Newsletter

We are now well into our second year of owning Imperial Productions. In the first half of this year we’ve been so busy fulfilling orders that we realised we needed to refine our production systems. We now have some new processes in place that mean you should start to see shorter turnaround times between ordering and receiving your product – we are aiming for four weeks now instead of our previous aim of six to eight.

We have also started to sell replacement boxes, so if you’ve bought a set on the second hand market and the box is in poor repair, we can replace it for you. We are able to make new boxes for all current and retired sets, with only one exception: several older Town & Around sets were packaged in black star Imperial paper. We no longer stock the black paper so if you are looking for a replacement box for one of these sets, we would use our standard maroon star paper. Replacement boxes are available on our website:

Replacement Boxes

 

We have also survived two rounds of household isolation in the last few months with various family members testing positive for Covid. Here in New Zealand when one member of a household tests positive, we all need to isolate at home for seven days or until the person’s symptoms have passed. This is a public health measure we totally support but it’s fair to say it is incompatible with the smooth running of a business (even from home) so we’re hoping not to have to isolate again for a while. We still have one child yet to succumb to Covid even after everyone else in the household has had it, so looking at the current case numbers it may be a vain hope.   

We are very excited to have booked a table at the upcoming Chicago Toy Soldier Show! This will be our first time exhibiting at a show since taking over the business, and we were so pleased to get a spot at Chicago. We chose this show for several reasons: around 60% of our international customers are based in the US, it’s a big show that is internationally renowned, and it’s also a show that David has attended in the past so it’s like coming full circle. We’ll be bringing a range of our most popular sets for display and sale – it’s a great opportunity for collectors to avoid shipping costs. We will let you know our room and table allocations when they become available. In the meantime, mark your calendars and we can't wait to meet you at the Hyatt Regency Schaumburg, Chicago, on 25 September 2022.

We will also be releasing three new items at the show: anImperial calendar, an Imperial catalogue, and also a brand new military set in a brand new range which we hope to expand over the next few years. As a clue, we expect this new set will be of particular interest to US collectors … any guesses what it might be?

CTSS Website

We have made these as custom orders for a few lucky customers in the past, but we like them so much that we’re now releasing them as a set. They’re the 3rd Foot Grenadier Regiment of the Imperial Guard, also known as Dutch Grenadiers because the unit was originally formed in Holland out of Louis Bonaparte’s royal guard.

It’s never too early to start thinking about your Christmas orders! We’ll be closing off Christmas orders for international customers on 10 October 2022, and for domestic orders on 10 November 2022.  If you’re more of a last-minute shopper, remember you can always order one of our gift cards right up until Christmas Eve and have it emailed on Christmas Day … you can choose the value, and the recipient will never know you left it that late! [link to gift card page]

David has been pretty busy in the last few months working on new sculpts with his customary attention to detail. We have no less than five new sets scheduled for release before the end of the year (including the one we’re launching in Chicago), and we think you’re going to love them! Two of the new sets are in the Town & Around range and three are military, each from a different era and country. As usual we will release first to our newsletter subscribers and later on our website and social media, so keep an eye on your Inboxes.