This Portsmouth shop is surviving lockdown by selling its cute Japanese products to a global audience

Watch more of our videos on ShotsTV.com 
and on Freeview 262 or Freely 565
Visit Shots! now
ANYBODY travelling through Fratton will have seen its bright pink exterior.

One of Portsmouth’s most unusual shops Tofu Cute has not only caught the eye of passing city residents – it has also attracted worldwide attention, selling its products online as a way of surviving lockdown.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Manager Laska Goldsack said: ‘When the pandemic hit, the shop had to shut and half of our team were furloughed. Surprisingly, throughout the pandemic, our orders increased by a huge amount. We have been extremely lucky. It was a very worrying time, not being able to let anybody through the door, but our orders sky-rocketed and we are very grateful to our customers for that.’

Read More
Disabled man denied triple cheeseburger at McDonald's drive-through in Gosport -...
Back from left,  Tofu Cute manager Laska Goldsack, product photographer Wai-Yi Lee, Robb Pettitt from the dispatch team, warehouse manager Harley Kelly and Aurora McNutt from the dispatch team, with front from left, creative director Rosanna Mackney, video content manager Devon King and general manager Bobu Fulton
Picture: Sarah Standing (170920-4102)Back from left,  Tofu Cute manager Laska Goldsack, product photographer Wai-Yi Lee, Robb Pettitt from the dispatch team, warehouse manager Harley Kelly and Aurora McNutt from the dispatch team, with front from left, creative director Rosanna Mackney, video content manager Devon King and general manager Bobu Fulton
Picture: Sarah Standing (170920-4102)
Back from left, Tofu Cute manager Laska Goldsack, product photographer Wai-Yi Lee, Robb Pettitt from the dispatch team, warehouse manager Harley Kelly and Aurora McNutt from the dispatch team, with front from left, creative director Rosanna Mackney, video content manager Devon King and general manager Bobu Fulton Picture: Sarah Standing (170920-4102)

The shop, which opened in December 2014 in Kingston Road, sells products in the Japanese ‘Kawaii’ style.

Its most popular products are cute and colourful plush items and Japanese snacks such as pocky sticks and DIY candy sets that come like a science set and allow people to make their own sweets.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Laska, from Fratton, said: ‘People were trapped at home and bored so we sold out of the DIY sweet sets straight away. They were looking for a bit of fun that they could do at home.

‘We were so busy with our online orders – shipping everywhere. As we had a smaller number of staff, people had to wait a bit longer than usual for their orders but they were very patient and we had some lovely comments saying how our products brought a massive smile to their faces when they arrived.

Tofu Cute in Kingston Road, Portsmouth.
Picture: Sarah Standing (170920-4126)Tofu Cute in Kingston Road, Portsmouth.
Picture: Sarah Standing (170920-4126)
Tofu Cute in Kingston Road, Portsmouth. Picture: Sarah Standing (170920-4126)

‘It was lovely to get that feedback. It really helped keep us motivated.’

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The business was the brainchild of co-owners Rosanna Mackney, also known as Zanni, and Rob Fulton, both from North End.

They set up dreamybows.com and tofucute.com 10 years ago and quickly gained a cult following of fans.

Tofu Cute in Kingston Road, Portsmouth.

Picture: Sarah Standing (170920-4096)Tofu Cute in Kingston Road, Portsmouth.

Picture: Sarah Standing (170920-4096)
Tofu Cute in Kingston Road, Portsmouth. Picture: Sarah Standing (170920-4096)

The business usually attends numerous conventions throughout the year, but these were also cancelled due to coronavirus.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The shop had plans to celebrate its 10th year in business but these had to be shelved, and instead they moved some of their promotions and competitions online instead.

Laska said: ‘It is something that we are really proud of. When we started out as a new business we didn’t know what would happen but it has been great. We have made it to 10 years – and we couldn't have a better team or better customers.’

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron,

Tofu Cute in Kingston Road, Portsmouth.

Picture: Sarah Standing (170920-4092)Tofu Cute in Kingston Road, Portsmouth.

Picture: Sarah Standing (170920-4092)
Tofu Cute in Kingston Road, Portsmouth. Picture: Sarah Standing (170920-4092)

Thank you for reading this story.

The dramatic events of 2020 are having a major impact on our advertisers and thus our revenues.

The News is more reliant than ever on you taking out a digital subscription to support our journalism.

Every subscription helps us continue providing trusted, local journalism and campaign on your behalf for our city.

Related topics:

Comment Guidelines

National World encourages reader discussion on our stories. User feedback, insights and back-and-forth exchanges add a rich layer of context to reporting. Please review our Community Guidelines before commenting.