New Site launch!
5.10pm Thursday 27th September 2007

Way back in July 2000, right at the start of the internet shopping phenomenon, TemptationGifts.com was born.

Over the last seven years the site has enjoyed extremely rapid growth, a great deal of investment, the support of loyal customers and countless improvements and facelifts to improve the browsing and shopping experience for you, our customers.

Today, we have relaunched the entire site on a more modern footing: easier to use, quicker to navigate, better looking and with even more great products.

It's been a very busy couple of months getting everything in place for the relaunch, and all of us here at Temptation are very excited about this latest step forward. We would like to extend our warmest thanks to all those customers who have shopped with us for so many years, without whose support we would not have been in a position to make these improvements.

We hope that all of you, whether you found us today or seven years ago, will enjoy browsing and shopping from our new site.

Best wishes,
The TemptationGifts team

UPDATE: 30th May 2007

Temptation Gifts Ltd wins award:

Independent Gift Retailer of the Year, South/South-East

LOCAL community leaders joined Amersham, Beaconsfield and Berkhamsted shoppers in congratulating the high-street side of the TemptationGifts family on being named Independent Gift Retailer of the Year, South/South-East, against stiff competition in a region which covers more than a dozen counties.

Glitzy Ceremony
The award was presented by TV funny man Tim Vine, at a glamorous ceremony in London earlier this month. Receiving the award, company chairman Mike Adams sounded understandably delighted: “We are extremely proud of this trophy, but we know that really, the award belongs to our customers.” he said. “Their continued support, friendship, and loyalty has been our inspiration throughout our 25 years in business”.

Local Family Business
The business began in March 1983 with one tiny shop at the end of Berkhamsted High St. Since then married couple Mike and Sheena Adams have worked tirelessly to develop the company, in the process building up a core team of enthusiastic and hard-working staff and a loyal following of customers from all across the Home Counties, and now of course online.
Twenty-five years on, the company enjoys a multi-million pound turnover, generated by 3 large stores and 2 websites, and fuelled by its own huge central warehouse. Always seeking to move forwards, Temptation Gifts now has ambitious plans to double in size again over the next five years, including a 5-fold expansion of the web operation.

Praise from Community and Business Leaders
The awards, now in their fifth year, cover the whole UK and are presented by leading trade magazine Progressive Gifts & Home. Speaking on behalf of the magazine, publishing director Ian Hyder said: “This was a richly deserved award. Temptation Gifts have been setting the highest standards in gift retailing for 25 years now, and we’re thrilled to recognise their unique contribution to the gift business in the south of England over nearly a quarter of a century.”

Alan Watson, Chairman of the local Chamber of Commerce, added his praise: “Temptation Gifts is a stand-out example of the high quality local businesses which make Amersham such a vibrant, enjoyable place to shop. It’s a beautiful store and the staff are always extremely friendly and helpful. I hope this award will help them bring even more people into the town.”

Chiltern District Council Leader-in-waiting, John Warder, was extremely proud: “We all know that this District has some of the best shops in the country, but it’s always nice when someone goes and proves it! My warmest congratulations to Temptation and their staff, and to all the people of this area for supporting their local businesses.”

Even local MPs were happy to take the time to congratulate Temptation. Cheryl Gillan (Amersham & Chesham) was fulsome in her praise: “Temptation is a delightful shop, very useful for gifts and an asset for Amersham”. Berkhamsted MP David Gauke added: “The strength and quality of our local businesses is something we’ve always been extremely proud of, here in Hertfordshire. Temptation is a well-loved shop and it’s great news for the company and the staff but above all for Berkhamsted, that their success has been recognised in this way.”

So from all us here at Temptation, retail or "e-tail", a huge thank you to you, the customer. We're all part of one big team here but we all know that neither side of the operation would be here at all, if it weren't for your support. This award belongs to you!

UPDATE: 5th May 2007


TemptationGifts recommended by Jellycat

Over the course of April we totally revamped our Jellycat section. It now contains almost two hundred products, with extensive descriptions and crystal clear photography.

We are now proud to announce that having seen our new section, which they consider to be one of the best places to buy Jellycat anywhere on the web, Jellycat have added us as a Recommended Online Retailer on their own website.

Temptation Gifts Ltd. has been selling Jellycat in our stores since the 1990s and we are very proud that our online store has now been awarded this honour from one of the most professional companies in the business.

"If you choose to go into a service industry like retail, you should want to offer great service. That means offering the widest choice of products, at the best possible prices, and giving genuinely friendly, efficient service.
Shopping should be fun, whether in a store or online, so that is what we strive to achieve."

Temptation Gifts Ltd. Chairman
Mike Adams,
November 2006.


The Website

Since humble beginnings in July 2000, in the very early days of the online shopping revolution, www.TemptationGifts.com has come a long way. Today, we are a major player in the online gift industry here in the UK, and we have seen turnover grow over 30-fold in the last two-and-a-half years alone.

This year has seen the opening of a huge new warehouse in Amersham, together with expanded offices, and state of the art fulfilment facilities to cope with the increased demand.

TemptationGifts.com has been widely praised for being easy to to navigate and to use, and recently impressed customers and industry leaders with the addition of audio to the site. (See and hear our new singing cushions!) There are even plans to begin to offer "voiceover" on products, so customers can choose a more personal way to hear about some of our wide choice of gifts.


The High Street

Our website may date back to the year 2000, but the Temptation Gifts brand has been well established across the northern Home Counties for the best part of a quarter of a century. There are branches of Temptation Gifts where customers who used to come in to spend their pocket money after school, now come in with their kids! These days we are firmly established as the most successful independent gift retailer in Hertfordshire & Buckinghamshire. And from this firm footing we are looking to build.

The Temptation stores have their own unique look and feel, each offering a range of more than 6000 different gifts and cards. It is this wide diversity of products, and the ultra competitive pricing, that has been instrumental in the success of the company over such a long period.

Further expansion of our high street operation is expected over the next few years with the opening of more stores like this one in Amersham, Buckinghamshire. **UPDATE: See above for news of our major awards success!**


The Ethos

Married couple Mike and Sheena Adams opened the first Temptation Gifts store in 1983, and continue to oversee company operations today. Their son Joel recently joined the business, and is now part of the team pushing the website operation forward. "This is a family business" says Sheena, "but the Temptation family extends way beyond the Adams's. We have a hard core of committed professionals who have worked for the company for many years, who share our philosophy, and our dedication to our customers"

Mike finishes: "We never ever forget that we would be nothing without our customers. No-one has to shop in our stores or on our site. Every single order is a privilege. Buying and sending gifts to family and friends is a really important part of people's lives, and we know how upsetting it is if things go wrong. That is why it's so important to us to get it right. The simple truth is- we really care."