Selling: The Shop Floor Trading Intelligence
Shop name: A&Z Sports Location: Northfleet, Kent Owners: Ashraf Abou Taleb and Lyndsay Smith Website:
www.az-sports.co.uk Date opened: 1983 Affiliation: None Number of staff: 2 Specialty: Racket sports
1. Not a lot of people know that…
A&Z Sports is a family-run business which started back in 1983 offering just rackets and restringing. My partner’s mum started the business when her late husband passed away. The entire family is squash mad and they are all very talented natural players. My partner’s father Abou Taleb was world champion at squash for three years running in the 1960s. The family moved to England permanently in 1974 with Abou Taleb coaching players at his local club. The players he played with/coached nearly four decades ago still come into our shop and tell tales of when he used to play them at Bexley Squash Club. One story is that he would play his opponents with just four strings in his racket, two down and two across, and still beat them. Another story is that he would place a chair in the middle of the court, play his shot, then return to the chair, sit on it while his opponent played their shot, then return the ball and sit back on the chair. Again, he would still beat his opponents so he earned the nickname 'the magician'. He began playing squash at a club in Egypt where he swept the courts for a living and then played with broken rackets and burst balls. He unfortunately passed away in 1983 aged 44. I never got to meet him. He left behind three sons: Ahmed Abou Taleb, Ashraf Abou Taleb (my partner) and Adham Abou Taleb, all of which still play squash to this day. Adham lives in America coaching squash full time for a living - he made it into the top 10 squash players in the world at his highest point. Ashraf plays for Black Lion squash club in local leagues and trains at least four times a week.
2. How is the business finding current trading conditions?
We are coping OK. We have a lot of very loyal customers; many schools in the area use us to supply them goods and teamwear and there are lots of local football teams that use us for kit, training wear and equipment. There are also two sports centres within a five-mile radius. We also now do our own printing and embroidery, engrave trophies, continue to restring rackets, regrip rackets, regrip cricket bats, repoint darts, retip snooker cues and supply workwear, such as hi-vis jackets and safety boots. Plus we have taken over the supply and embroidery of North West Kent College uniforms at their Dartford and Gravesend branches. It’s not all sport these days and that’s what I believe is keeping us going in this awful business climate.
3. What has been the greatest success for the business over the last 12 months? Purchasing our newest machine in November last year was a great success; a Xerox wide format printer so we can now print banners, shop signs, car stickers etc.
4. What will be your biggest challenge in the next 12 months?
As I said, business continues to be OK as we have diversified but the biggest challenge for us this year will be obtaining new customers to help us keep the business going.
26
www.sgb-sports.com Specialist Sport
Company: Crystals Ltd – Greengauge Sports division Founded: 2003 Sport: Lawn bowls and indoor bowls Key Equipment: Bowls, bags, shoes, clothing, waterproofs, accessories Website:
www.crystalslimited.co.uk/greengaugesports
1. What essential information do retailers need to know about your sport and its equipment? A game that was once considered for those of senior years, bowls is now enjoyed by a vast expanse of age groups in either formalised competition play or an adhoc social format. Today nearly half of the world’s bowlers are located in Australia and our sport enjoys significant exposure in both electronic and printed media. Lawn bowls is a competitive yet positively enjoyable pastime and is a sport that has provided challenges and satisfaction to generations of both males and females. In the UK there are over 600,000 active participants in bowls, who participate 12 months of the year. The equipment needed to get involved is very
specific to the sport though, and the market for it is only those looking to play bowls.
2. What products does your company offer? Henselite is a leading bowls name from Australia, which supports the UK market through Greengauge Sports, which itself is a division of Crystals Ltd. We offer a full range of clothing, bags, shoes and accessories for the complete bowler from brands Henselite, Almark, Prohawk, Pelham, Dawn and others.
3. Why is your sport worth considering for retailers?
Bowls is a sport that is easy to market locally to existing clubs as they are all publically listed.
4. What demographic does it appeal to? There are players at all ages, but there is particular growth in the under- 18 market. It is also especially popular with retired groups and around 25 per cent of participants are female
5. What other services does your company offer?
Crystals Ltd offers artificial sports and domestic surfaces, competitive merchant services rates and a range of health and beauty products.
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