This has been a significant year for Paper Tiger, and the very first thing I need to do is thank all you - and all of our customers - for their support over the past twelve months. We have come roaring out of the post-covid period with our busiest year ever! We have opened a new store, experienced record breaking sales, enjoyed huge growth in our online business, and had a huge amount of fun and a great deal of satisfaction with the last twelve months. If you have visited us and shopped with us, you have played your part in this success, thank you!

I now have the biggest team of Tigers that I have ever had - experienced and enthusiastic retail specialists, eagle eyed buyers, inspirational visual merchandisers, finger clicking digital wizards, super efficient pickers and packers, and awesome operational managers who make things *happen*. The whole team makes things happen, and I am very grateful to them for their endeavours on delivering a successful year for Paper Tiger - each and every one of them has an impact on your experience with us.

As a business owner it is very satisfying to see carefully laid plans and thoughtfully considered ideas come to fruition, and 2023 has been a year for using the knowledge and experience of the Paper Tiger team to deliver new and better experiences for our customers. As Morningside opened in May, we were busy planning refurbishments and refits in our stores, working on our ranges of cards, stationery and gifts, and building on our online experience to make the most of the opportunities that the internet offers to a business like Paper Tiger. We have also been busy improving how we do things too, and that has helped us to become better at what we do.

Success is a function of risk, and I have put my faith and my investment in the people who make this business successful - the team that work here, the people who help us create an interesting and unique range, and the customers who shop with us. I also trusted my own entrepreneurship and that was a big deal for me personally. I try to follow the philosophy of the Stoics, but I am allowing myself a moment of ego - I am really PROUD of myself for what I have done this year. I hope you enjoy reading some of our highlights, and that you can reflect on some of your own as we head into 2024…