Franchise Focus Anchors away
From the shipyard to The ZipYard – a franchise success story
INVESTMENT LEVEL: £38,500
unzipped a six-foot giant zip to declare the specialist garment alterations and repair centre open, the business was trading at almost full capacity and recruitment was underway to add a third seamstress to the team.
Graeme is no stranger to the franchising business model – he was previously an award-winning Cash Generator owner, running multiple branches.
“If you can combine excellence in service with excellence of products you have a winning formula – and we certainly have that”
“The time was right to move on and give my career a new direction. I was proud of the Cash Generator businesses that I had built up but I am always on the look out for innovative ideas and The ZipYard model ticked all of the boxes.”
Richard McConnell I
n unsettled economic times, there is often an attempt to create jobs rather than tackle the employment market from the outside. Franchising, however, reduces the risk involved in setting up your own business while bringing all the benefits of working for yourself.
Nigel Toplis, managing director of The Bardon Group, says: “Where you have a good franchise system, you really have a marriage, in that you have a proven business system, collateral, support and training from the franchisor and the dynamism, ambition, drive and skillset of the franchisee.” The ZipYard is one such success story. After experiencing a botched tailoring job, two entrepreneurs saw a gap in the market and used an empty shop, in which to set up their own business, that sat opposite Belfast shipyard and duly inspired the name. “From there they decided to franchise the concept in Northern Ireland, then master licence in Southern Ireland. We took the master licence from them to franchise in Great Britain and started trading in 2011.” Nigel continues: “The ZipYard has an ‘open kitchen’ approach, in that the store is open plan and workers are very much out in the open, rather than confined in a back room. There are also fitting rooms on site and
an automated processing service, where the garments are tracked by barcode throughout the process and a text message is delivered to the customer upon completion.” Nigel believes this system has “professionalised the industry”, adding an extra element of authority to an already talented workforce.
“We’ve very much made it a professional, open, high-street operation,” Nigel adds. This could explain The ZipYard’s rapid growth, with 15 new centres open in the last two years and an expectation of getting 50 centres open within the next three. Richard McConnell opened The ZipYard in Altrincham in September 2011 and in 2013 was a finalist in the bfa Franchise of the Year awards, having already won numerous local business accolades.
From a turnover of £174,000 in his first year to £270,000-plus in his second, growth has been exceptional. Such has been the progress of the business that this one-time driving instructor has opened a second Centre (Wilmslow), which is also doing very well.
Experienced in sales and marketing, Graeme Mulheron took the decision to buy The ZipYard franchise for Bedford in summer 2013 and hasn’t looked back since. By the time local Mayor Dave Hodgson
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Businessfranchise.com | December/January 2015
He says: “I had read about the ZipYard’s arrival in the UK but it wasn’t until I had to get a suit altered that I realised just how much the local area needed a top-quality alterations and repair service. “It dawned on me that there must be lots of other people out there just like me with clothes that need altering and nowhere to take them, so I decided bring The ZipYard to Bedford.
“I have been extremely pleased by the success of our ZipYard store so far. As with any business, if you can combine excellence in service with excellence of products you have a winning formula and we certainly have that here at The ZipYard Bedford.” The ZipYard concept is well established in Ireland and growing steadily in the UK. The ZipYard centres carry distinctive yellow and black branding and offer quality garment alterations and repairs to members of the public as well as local retailers, businesses with uniformed staff, hire and bridal shops and even schools, all in a clean and purpose- designed retail environment with on-site seamstresses and private changing rooms. Territories are being snapped up fast but there are still opportunities available for the right candidates. n
THE ZIPYARD
WEBSITE:
www.thezipyard.com EMAIL:
edownes@thezipyard.co.uk PHONE: 01530 513 307 CLASSIFICATION: Retail
Investment: £20k-£50k
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