RAPT: Anj and Barb Selwood

Anj Selwood is General Manager Online and her mother Barb Selwood Director of their family’s business, Rapt, which opened with Botany Town Centre 10 years ago and was bought by the Selwoods five years later. They take a divide-and-conquer approach to the enterprise, with Anj running the impressive web operation and Barb serving as the face of their newly refitted store on Garden Lane, where customers can wander in, search for products on the touch-screen computer, and be directed to the sought-for item’s location.

Meanwhile, father and husband Stephen, a former Automobile Association man and a bit of a legend in transport and infrastructure circles, serves as the “money man” and supplier of hardened business nous.

A self-described “home-design freak” and avid scrapbooker, Anj might have been born to her role at Rapt: she previously worked at Pumpkin Patch and in marketing and event management, while Barb has Postie Plus and Living & Giving on her CV. Both have parlayed their skills, their shared creative bent, and their “generally nutty” personalities into the management of a sharp, seemingly limitless gift store and website showcasing Rapt’s ever-changing mix of collectibles and gifts for all occasions and budgets.

The Selwood whanau has big goals, with the recently completed shop refit setting the stage for a five-year plan that involves more Rapt stores and, ultimately, a franchise structure. Crucially, for a stand-alone retail store, Barb says Rapt scores wins through sheer visual impact: “It’s not uncommon to hear new customers walk in and say, ‘Wow!’, and what we hear most often is parents saying to children, ‘We look with our eyes . . . ‘” and “Hands in your pockets kids...”.

Sure, trading has been tough, and in a recession overall sales drop, but what the Rapt team has observed is an increase in the average sale amount, which has kept turnover consistent. What has been “massive”, Anj says, is the trend to online, evidenced by a year-on-year doubling in Rapt’s own web activity.

It’s a world away from Anj’s childhood plan to be a barrister (a dream that emerged when a family friend suggested it to the “bossy loudmouth”) or Barb’s dream of conquering the celebrity world as a pop star, but it’s a life they both love. Anj says, “We make a dynamic team. There’s a lot of laughing and fooling about, which has turned out to be perfect for retail, because customers respond to the energy. Our relationships with repeat customers are a highlight – we have regulars that pop in every day to have a yarn and check out what’s new.”

Other dreams? Anj is keen to visit great European destinations such as Greece and Turkey and Croatia, possibly with a Las Vegas chaser, while avoiding her greatest fear – rollercoasters. “I can’t handle anything where I’m not in control,” Anj says. “One day at Rainbow’s End I managed to talk myself in to getting on the rollercoaster . . . but I crawled out the other side before it started!” 

Barb will be fulfilling a travel dream later in 2012 with a big European trip planned, though a touch of claustrophobia means she’ll be avoiding elevators.

Fortunately, at Rapt, phobias can be left at the door: this mother-daughter team has it all under control.