The Who Shop

The Who Shop, 39-41 Barking Road, London E6 1PY

Tel: +44(0) 208 471 2356; www.thewhoshop.com

Owners: Kevan and Alexandra Looseley

My first ever interview, and I couldn’t hope for a better one. Kevan was very friendly - as soon as I dropped in I was offered a cup of tea!

The shop was started by his wife Alexandra when she spotted a great business opportunity: in 1983, her brother had gone to a large Dr Who convention organised by the BBC. When he returned, he told his sister that 40,000 people turned up, yet there was very limited merchandise.

Inspiration struck Alex, and she opened The Who Shop in Wapping on Dec 1st, 1984!

The original shop was in a warehouse in Wapping – Alex wanted a site in Butlers Wharf since an episode of Dr Who had been filmed there, and ended up securing a place in Metropolitan Wharf just across the water.

On her very first day, Alex met an enthusiastic Dr Who fan – one she'd end up marrying!

Kevan Looseley was in the Air Force at the time and had returned from the Falklands war; these days he splits his time between running the shop, acting (including an appearance in Dr Who, natch), and the RAF.

The shop did very well. However, during the late 80s, Alex was hit by large rent increases as Wapping became gentrified - one by one, the old warehouses were being converted into expensive yuppie flats.

As a result, Alex and Kevan decided to move out and run the business by holding stalls at Dr Who and science-fiction conventions, both in the UK and around the world - one tour saw Kevan travel to New Zealand, Australia and the United States within a month!

“The USA are a big market - if a convention would get maybe 500 fans over here, in the US it’s over 5,000 people.”

In the 1990s Alex and Kevan decided to re-open their shop and found the perfect location, just opposite East Ham Station.

“We had excellent visibility, and people travelled from all over to see us - sometimes they dropped in straight from the airport, suitcases in tow, before checking into their hotel!”

The shop moved last year to a larger space in Barking Road - around the corner from their old shop – and customers still arrive from all over the world.

In the short time I was in the store, I saw a police officer buy a book for her child, a couple who had come from Russia and bought memorabilia from 1979, a telephone customer from Delaware trying to secure an autograph, and a couple from Long Beach, California!

Apparently, this is typical. “Most shops around here are estate agents and pound shops, and only attract local customers. We’re a bit different…”

We also saw an old friend and customer, and a young lady from the local area.

“There was this idea that the Doctor could only be played by 60-year-olds, but the new ones are young men - we’ve had more girls come in since the show came back!”

Kevan reckons the split these days is about one-third women to two-thirds men, whereas customers were originally 80% male. Also, one-third of customers are children, whereas before they just weren’t interested.

“In 1984, our client base was 16-30 year olds - basically fans with disposable income who hadn’t yet settled down, and were happy to spend over £100 on items such as autographed photos. These days we sell everything from £2 pins to classic collectors' items - our clients range from 5-year-olds to 85-year-olds!”

The client split is also quite significant, with around two-thirds of customers coming from across the UK and one-third from abroad, mainly from English-speaking countries.

The shop has certainly changed with the times - and has even been been ahead of them; the Who Shop website has been around for 15 years, since 1995!

”It was originally set up by our American friends, but we now run it from servers over in the UK”.

Despite this, Kevan is actually not the biggest fan of technology: “I don’t really use computers. I’m not a Luddite: they feared technology - I just despise them... I drive the rest of the team crazy!”

Although happier to meet friends in the real world than chatting to them in the virtual world, Kevan is contented to take orders via the Internet and refers clients to the site whenever he can.

“Although I love Dr Who, this is not just a hobby - it’s our livelihood. When we have so many customers coming in through the Internet, I can’t afford to ignore them.”

The Who Shop is very well known by sci-fi fans in general, and has hosted actors from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Star Trek and Babylon 5 as well as Dr Who. Their old shop counter, covered in autographs, shows the mark of all the actors who've dropped by to sign their books:

Kevan hastens to add: “Of course they didn’t come freely, we pay them to turn up and sign autographs!”
Yet the strangest call the shop ever had was from the best-known of all the Doctors:

“One day I got an amazing phone call: ‘Hello, this is Tom Baker - can you help me sell my autobiography?’ ”


For once they didn’t need to pay an actor to turn up, and the shop saw hundreds of people attend that particular session!

The Who Shop has grown over the years, and currently has 3 employees - Alex, Kevan and a part-time employee. At some times during the year, they are also assisted by friends and volunteers who are passionate about the show: “They know as much as I do about these products. I can turn a fan into a retailer - they already know all the products, so if someone says ‘I want something that’s green and has 3 eyes’, they know what it is. Whereas if someone’s worked at Tesco for 20 years, I can’t make them a Dr Who expert.”

Their Tardises alone range from cruet sets to scale replicas to telephones to biscuit barrels...

Kevan believes that level of expertise was crucial in helping the company survive.

“We’ve been hit by the recession, just like every other business. The reason we’re still trading is that we’re specialists. Supermarkets and newsagents might stock the odd Dr Who merchandise, but we’re the only shop that stocks rare items from the beginning of the show.”

After looking around the shop, I realise Kevan’s being modest: the items on offer include the full range of Dr Who toys, the full range of Dr Who books (including some written about Dr Who books!), posters and magazines dating back to the 1970s, autographed photos and even a small museum with original props from the show - accessed through, of course, a Tardis...

Entrance to the museum is charged for, but the shop doesn't make a penny; all proceeds go to Help for Heroes, a charity close to Kevan’s heart.

“Irrespective of political belief, our boys and girls defend our country abroad and have no choice in assignment. It breaks my heart when I hear of a 19-year-old being killed or maimed in Iraq or Afghanistan.”

One thing that comes across is that The Who Shop is run by two very nice people who care about other people - sometimes to a degree rarely found in other retailers:

"If I think a product isn't right for a customer, I let them know - say a mother wants to buy a detailed replica for her child,  I'll tell her that she's better off buying a cheaper plastic toy that won't get easily broken."

Much like the Doctor, that type of customer service seems to belong to another time altogether...

I wish Kevan and Alex every success - may they carry on trading for many years to come!