RETAILER PROFILE | Angelic Bathrooms
I have a slogan, ‘Feel the Beauty of Luxury With Us’. You can have affordable products but with that hotel feeling
bad. Some of the brands knew me from when I worked in the accounts department at the bathroom showroom. It was a small office and I got to know the reps and the project teams. I got to know some of the brands they dealt with, although I don’t work with all the brands they did. “I didn’t have phone numbers or contacts. I just went directly to the companies and asked to open a new trade account. And I have credit limits with all but two or three. They were very helpful and I got some of my displays free of charge and some at a discount. “I told them I was limited on space in terms of putting things on display, but sometimes you can’t even open an account if you don’t put products on display.”
In a small showroom, deciding on displays and layout can be challenging.
62
“I looked around online and at other showrooms
for inspiration,” she
explains. “I thought products would look odd on a plain wall, so I decided to use tiles. I ordered 92sq m of tiles and asked my dad if he could come and do the tiling. The design came along as we put things on walls. I knew the items that I wanted and we mixed and matched them later.
“I decided on five displays. I wanted each one to be different from the other, with various tile options. The showroom will evolve all the time and it will probably change many times before I finally decide it is perfect.”
Affordable luxury
So what is her philosophy at Angelic? “I have a slogan,” Kotarska replies.
“Feel the Beauty of Luxury with Us. You can have affordable products, but
you can have that hotel feeling. People come in and say that they want that hotel feeling in their homes. Not everyone can spend £10,000 on a bathroom, but they still want that feeling. Me personally, I spend less time in the kitchen than I do in the bathroom. In the bathroom you can close the door and have time to yourself, so that is what I try to put out there – to create a spa at home.” She finds that small displays better reflect the size of bathrooms local houses tend to have. “Basing this on my bathroom, I can fit in a bath and a shower, but the vanity can’t be bigger than a 600. So I was thinking I need smaller displays and that meant I could fit more in. This has proved right so far, because some of the people who come in can’t even fit in a 600 vanity.” Asked if the location has worked out
well, Kotarska says that although it is not the busiest area in town, she feels she does not need a constant flow of people walking past. She shares her reasoning: “When you go into a clothes shop, you know you can buy something there and then if you like it. Whereas when you are looking for a new bathroom, it takes time to consider. It’s not an impulse buy. They will look online to research where the nearest bathroom shop is and look at reviews, prices, what we sell and our customer service.” In terms of product, Angelic’s main brands are Rhoper Rhodes, Kudos, Aqualisa, Tissino, Crosswater, PJH (Bathrooms to Love), Johnson Tiles and Sensio, although she also deals with distributors and can supply most things a customer might ask for. She surprises me, however, by revealing that she has been actively pursuing contract work as well as residential. At present, most of her sales are residential, although she has already, during her three months’ trading, picked up a contract for 16 new-build homes where there was a total of 42 bathrooms.
“I was out walking my dog,” she remembers, “and saw a development. I contacted them and gave it a shot. Also, there are portals online where you can win contracts, for councils mainly.” Although it is still early days, Kot - arska is clearly focused on where she wants to take Angelic Bathrooms in the next year or so.
“I am hoping to grow as a business,” she tells me. “I want to employ another member of staff and divide the business between residential and contract work. That will mean I can go out and look for the bigger developer jobs and have someone who can sit in the showroom and look after the residential projects. My plan is to open a bigger showroom eventually.”
· February 2023
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76
