RETAILER PROFILE | Hyde Park Bathrooms and Kitchens
Prior to the showroom move in 2005, Hyde Park
Bathrooms and
Kitchens had a turnover of around £2.5 million to £3m. “Turnover has dropped a little with the pandemic,” concedes El-Ghazoini, “and we are still playing catch-up. We are about a third down on where we should be, but we have seen a healthy recovery since and it is going in the right direction.”
Many customers of Hyde Park Bathrooms are international with homes or properties in the UK. El-Ghazoini says: “During the summer months we have an influx of clients from the Middle East, who come here to escape the heat. Most have properties in the UK, so we do very good business with the Middle East, equally we have customers as far away as Vietnam, Thailand and Russia. Some of the displays we have are a little more extravagant and aimed at that kind of clientele.”
These clients, he explains, often
have multiple properties in the UK, which they reside in and some of which are investment properties, as well as properties abroad. “We also do quite a bit of high-end commercial work,” adds El-Ghazoini. “We recently did a five-star hotel in the middle of Hanoi. We did around 20 rooms in the main hotel and a family penthouse on the top two floors. We didn’t simply supply the bathrooms and kitchens, we also supplied all the hotel lighting, chandeliers, even the front door to the hotel, which was a bespoke door made for us in Birmingham in solid
brass inlaid with glass.”
In keeping with that customer profile, Hyde Park Bathrooms and Kitchens sells a lot of wellness and spa products, as El-Ghazoini explains: “We are comfortable to tackle products like that. Our clientele would normally want that sort of product and it is
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not unheard-of for most of our master bathrooms to include a steam generator or steam shower and whirlpool baths.” I also noticed as I was being shown around the showroom shower toilets from Toto and Geberit, which El-Ghazoini says are very popular with his clients, especially with those from Asia and the Far East.
Kitchens were added to the Hyde
Park mix when they moved into the George Street premises, with kitchens in the basement.
It has been very rewarding, very challenging, but I think we have done a good job. We have customers who have been with us for the whole length of the journey and are still with us
In Baker Street, where space is more limited, there are two displays, with a large Häcker display taking pride of place in the front window, with a Villeroy and Boch bathroom on the opposite side. Usefully, though, five-
Häcker’s
storey central London showroom is just a five-minute walk from Hyde Park Kitchens and Bathrooms and so if customers need to see more of the range and get
more of a feel for the product, they take them there. As well as Häcker, they also sell Beckermann, Störmer, as well as Trend Interiors from the UK. El-Ghazoini says that 70% of customers go for a modern handleless style, with just 30% opting for something traditional. Hyde Park’s typical kitchen sale is between
to be sold so cheaply.”
£25,000 and £35,000 although they have done them for £100k and £15k, with bathrooms not far behind at £25,000 to £30,000. Volume-wise, they do three bathroom refurbs a week and 12 full projects a month and between five and six kitchens a month. Luxury products and first-class
service may at the heart of the Hyde Park ethos, but for all that El-Ghazoini emphasises that they will work to any budget. “With the internet, we have to be realistic and we have to be competitive,” says El-Ghazoini, “and we do get people coming in to look at products that they will then buy online. We have tried to deal with that by not displaying products that are heavily discounted online and working with suppliers that protect our margins and
don’t allow their products
Business is thriving and their location has paid off with increased footfall, so what is next for next for El-Ghazoini and the Hyde Park Bathrooms and Kitchens business? “We are moving our warehouse soon and the new premises will be a combined showroom and warehouse,” Eh-Ghazoini tells me. “Our current warehouse is in Park Royal, which has become a property hotspot, and now developers are buying up loads of property and our warehouse is surrounded by developments and is one of the few units left. No doubt we will be encouraged to leave very soon [he smiles].” And that warehouse/showroom will
be in addition to the current showroom on Baker Street.
Another priority will be to update its website. “Our website needs major refurbishment and it is dated, it is going to have a complete overhaul and we are talking to the developers to get that done.” With 25 years under its belt, a loyal and affluent customer base and solid business structure, Hyde Park Bathrooms and Kitchens looks well set for future years to come.
· November 2022
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