The community business H
Dorset-based independent Holmans has earned the trust and loyalty of its customers by being a part of the local community for over sixty years. Anna Ryland reports.
olmans was founded in the historic
market town of Wimborne, Dorset, in 1948 by William Holman, the grandfather of Gary and Steve Holman, who jointly manage the company today.
Originally the business was called Holmans Radio and it sold radios and charged accumulators. Roger Holman, son of William took over the business in the mid-1960s. Gary became involved in the business in 1984 and, together with his younger brother Steve, they have been running the company since 1990s. Just before their father retired, in 1989, they opened the store in Ferndown. Their Panasonic store in Bournemouth was added to their portfolio in 2010. Holmans has its own warehouse which also accommodates its servicing facility. Gary Holman was trained to be a history teacher but soon realized that he didn’t enjoy teaching. Steve graduated in computer science and was self-employed
for five years before joining the business. He wrote his first software system for Holmans when he was still at school. Over the years the Wimborne store has expanded four-fold, gradually absorbing the premises of the neighbouring retail outlets.
Although Holmans deals with both CE and DA products, it is a predominantly consumer electronics retailer, with brown goods accounting for two thirds of its business. “Panasonic is our strongest brand,” says Gary. They also deal with Sony and Bose, and have a small selection of Sharp, Toshiba and Linsar televisions. On the white goods side, they stock Miele, Bosch and Hotpoint. “We are very strong in custom installation,” says Steve. “We had this business since the early 1990s when we dealt with Bang & Olufsen and Armour. “We found that custom install is an excellent string to our bow. If someone needs more than a basic
24 The Independent Electrical Retailer February 2013
install, even if it isn’t a full custom installation, we are able to provide a tailored service having very wide expertise in this area,” adds Gary. Holmans has also been offering rentals for many years. “We rent mostly brown goods. The core customer base for rental has declined. However we still have a group of people who prefer to rent a television knowing that they will always get the latest technology and support if anything goes wrong. Rental works for us because we later refurbish these products and sell them at discounted prices,” says David Woods, manger of the Wimborne store.
Holmans’ customers “The profile of our customers differs from branch to branch. The age of the Ferndown store’s customers is ten years higher than the Wimborne store, and in Bournemouth is ten years lower than in Wimborne,”
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