Member Article

Let's Party! Walker Singleton is auctioning 100,000 funky gifts

A selection of more than 100,000 outrageous party gifts are to be auctioned this week by leading West Yorkshire auctioneers Walker Singleton.

The quirky items are the remaining stock of Huddersfield-based The Gift Oasis Ltd, which recently went into liquidation.

Walker Singleton are auctioning the gifts, alongside the associated business assets, on behalf of liquidators Kingsland Business Recovery.

Howard Eastwood, a director of Walker Singleton, explained: “There is an astonishing selection of party gifts available from the stock, over 2,500 different lines ranging from fancy dress, kitchen and cooking, home and garden and arts and crafts to health and beauty, clothes and fashion and sports and travel.

“Some of the more unusual and diverse items are hot-dog staplers; giant hip flasks, holding three pints; Donald Trump or Theresa May masks; solar-powered waving pugs; and cupcake lip balm.

“The company prided themselves on seeking out unusual and curious gifts that are fun and imaginative, appealing to anyone with a well-developed sense of humour. We are not short of stocks of abusive balloons, risqué gifts from key-rings to games, inverted drinking glasses or illuminating unicorn slippers.

“Maintaining the quirky theme, the business has a “breakout” area furnished on a modern urban vision with oil drum chairs, car front settee, motorbike wall lights, stools covered used jeans labels and a 2m robot light, formed from industrial piping. Alongside these are the more mundane items of racking, packing, fulfilment and administration functions.”

“Whilst the stocks might be considered eclectic, the demand for humorous, talking point, gifts remains strong for all ages, especially those active on photo and video-sharing social networking sites. Lots are offered to suit trade mainly and will appeal to Ebayers, business and private resellers.

“We expect a good deal of interest, when the auction goes live on Thursday May 3. It will be on-line for eight days, finishing on Friday May 11,” said Mr Eastwood.

The Gift Oasis was founded in 2012 and moved into state-of-the-art office and warehousing units at Park Valley Mills business park in Huddersfield in 2016, with turnover soon reaching over £200,000 a month and more than 20 staff. Subsequently issues largely market driven and outside the control of the business put pressure on the company leading it to have to enter liquidation.

To take part in the online auction, please visit www.walkersingleton.co.uk/machinery-business…/online-gift-retailers-stocks

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Robert Beaumont .