A Worsley family has created the first premium countdown calendars for birthdays and other occasions after their teenage daughter sparked an idea.
When Andrew and Charlotte Staal were asked by their teenage daughter while she was studying for her Business GCSE, “why don’t we have advent calendars for birthdays?”, they understandably didn’t have an answer at first – but after taking the idea and deciding it was a brilliant one, they got to work creating a unique concept that is already shaking up the UK gifting market.
SevenYays was officially launched this month after being in production and development during multiple national lockdowns over the past year.
Aiming to support independent British businesses with ethical and sustainable values, the new personalised gifting service allows shoppers to create customised countdown calendars for birthdays and other occasions, or chose from several ready-made boxes with themes including gin, wellbeing, and celebration.
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You get to pick six small, high-quality gifts and one larger gift – known as the Seventh Yay – which are all wrapped up in plantet-friendly packaging and come alongside a card with a personalised message.
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The boxes are sent to the recipient just in time for the countdown to their special occasion.
The gifts selection includes craft gins and rum, wellbeing products, high-quality beauty items, sleep masks, socks, books, and tech items.
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The boxes are sent to the recipient just in time for the countdown to their special occasion / Credit: SevenYays
Speaking on the launch of SevenYays, Charlotte Staal said: “Our daughter had to create a business idea for a GCSE project and when she asked us, “why don’t we have advent calendars for birthdays? We couldn’t answer, and the more we thought about it, the more we saw what a brilliant idea it was.
“We put our heads together as a family and talked it over.
“It seemed like the perfect fit for the current situation. With friends and loved ones stuck in lockdown, what better way to spread some joy? Then we got to work.”
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“Right from the start of this journey, we knew we wanted to offer the very best gifts to customers,” Andrew Staal added.
“High-quality, fun, useful, but always with ethical and sustainable values a priority.” Our key
He continued: “There are so many amazing SMEs out there creating some wonderful gifts and incredible products [and] we can give them the opportunity to boost their brand and increase their sales – and bring some exciting new gifts to our customers.”
“Why don’t we have advent calendars for birthdays?” / Credit: SevenYays
SevenYays launched on 1st June with 12 different pre-selected themed boxes and 130 different premium gifts to choose from in the create-your-own box option.
Prices start at £30 – and you can grab yours here.
Featured Image – SevenYays
Business
Aldi announces ‘special’ 62-hour closure of all its 1,000+ stores across UK – this is why
Emily Sergeant
Aldi has announced that it’ll be closing the doors of all of its stores across the UK for 62 hours next month for a ‘special’ reason.
Christmas is always known to be one of the busiest periods of the year for the retail industry, and Boxing Day has a reputation for being the ultimate day for shopping deals and discounts in the UK – but this year, just like it has done on several years in the past, Aldi has made the decision to close all of its stores nationwide on this bank holiday.
The supermarket retailer says it wants to thank its colleagues ‘for all their hard work’ throughout the year by giving them some extra time to spend with their families.
This means that all Aldi stores will be closed on both 25 and 26 December.
That’s not all though, as stores will also be closed on New Year’s Day, and will reopen once again on Friday 2 January 2026.
Aldi has announced a ‘special’ 62-hour closure of all its UK stores / Credit: Aldi UK
Opening hours at different Aldi stores across the UK will vary in the lead-up to Christmas, so it’s important to check the times for your local store, but the retailer has confirmed that most branches will be operating extended hours to ‘ensure customers can stock up ahead of the big day’
In the interim period between Christmas and New Year, stores will reopen as usual on Saturday 27 through to Tuesday 30 December, with reduced hours also likely on New Year’s Eve.
Speaking on the decision to shut up shop for a full 62-hour period this festive season, Rebecca Heley, who is the Communications Director at Aldi UK, said: “Christmas is a special time, and we want to ensure all of our colleagues have the opportunity to relax and enjoy it with their loved ones.
“That’s why all Aldi stores will be closed on Boxing Day this year.
“We know how hard colleagues work to deliver an amazing Christmas for our customers, and this is one small way of saying thank you.”
Featured Image – Aldi UK
Business
UK’s best and worst parcel delivery companies named following new research
Emily Sergeant
Some eye-opening new research has revealed the best and worst parcel delivery companies in the UK ahead of Christmas.
With the festive season fast approaching and many already in the process of Christmas shopping, Citizens Advice has released its annual parcel league tables, ranking the UK’s five major delivery companies in order from best to worst based on their overall performance.
From chasing missing parcels, and battling arduous complaints systems, to even having accessibility requests ignored, Citizens Advice found through its latest research that more than a third (37%) faced issues with their most recent delivery – which works out to roughly around 15 million people, a new record.
The research – which was carried out in a ‘snapshot’ one-month period – reveals that the rate of parcel problems remains at the highest levels seen in half a decade.
Now in its fifth year, the charity’s league table looks at the top five delivery companies by parcel volume and measures their performance against criteria to determine who is the best.
The criteria each company is measured against includes customer service, delivery problems, and how well they meet accessibility needs, such as people needing louder knocking or longer to answer the door.
This year’s parcel league table shows Royal Mail scored the highest with 3.25 out of five stars overall, while Yodel slips to the bottom with just two out of five stars.
UK’s top 5 parcel delivery companies
Royal Mail – 3.25 out of 5 stars
Amazon Logistics – 3 out of 5 stars
DPD – 2.5 out of 5 stars
Evri – 2.5 out of 5 stars
Yodel – 2 out of 5 stars
Citizens Advice found through its new research that accessibility was the worst performing area overall, and this is despite Ofcom’s new condition requiring firms to give disabled consumers the opportunity to report their accessibility needs.
There was also customer service failures, with almost half (47%) of the people who had a problem with their initial delivery going on to have further issues trying to resolve the problem.
Research found that the most common problems customers faced with their last delivery include the driver leaving before they had time to get to the door (29%), their parcel being left in an insecure location (24%), and parcels arriving late (24%).
The UK’s best and worst parcel delivery companies have been named / Credit: Evri (Press Picture)
“Ofcom has passed the parcel of responsibility for long enough,” commented Dame Clare Moriarty, who is the Chief Executive of Citizens Advice.
“We’ve been doing the work of the regulator for five years now by holding parcel companies to account and speaking up for consumers who are bearing the brunt of persistently poor service.
“Our league table has tracked parcel problems from warehouse to doorstep. We continue to see millions of people chasing lost parcels, having their accessibility needs ignored and hitting a brick wall when they try to complain.
Emily Sergeant -
5th July 2021 
