Business check | RETAIL
Hammersmith and Fulham
HB How’s business? Manchester
This west London borough is home to many big corporations with Virgin, Sony Mobile Communications, Coca-Cola and L’Oréal all having HQs or bases in the area. It’s also a vibrant cultural hub with many theatres and music venues, including Riverside Studios, the Bush Theatre, the Lyric Hammersmith, Hammersmith Apollo and O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire…
Birmingham HB London Ipswich
PARTNER BRANDS
Laurence Pidgeon Häcker, Elmar Cucine, Miele, AEG and De Dietrich
Sola Kitchens
Own brand bespoke furniture, Gaggenau, Siemens, Miele, Bora, Blanco, 1810 and Quooker
Hi-Spec Design
Pronorm, Euromobil, Allmilmo, Minacciolo, Gaggenau, Sub-Zero and Wolf, Miele and Quooker
Kallum Bathrooms
Villeroy and Boch, Hansgrohe, Axor, Catalano, Victoria and Albert, Zuchetti and Graff
Laurence Pidgeon Laurence Pidgeon, director
We’ve had some extremely fl at periods, but currently we’re pretty busy. Business has been very strange since the Brexit vote. I get the impression, though, that everybody is getting sick and tired of waiting and, with the Brexit date having passed, many people are now just getting on with what they want to do. Although we’re doing okay, lots of big names have disappeared. This is not good for the industry or the reputation of kitchen dealers among the public, and it doesn’t help their credit line with suppliers. On the other hand, there are fewer of them competing in the market, so those that survive will benefi t. Average spend on a kitchen is around £30,000, though we’re doing a project for £160,000. We use Häcker and particularly like the quality of the backup they offer. This service element is very important. Things can go wrong, so having a two- to three-week turnaround is vital.
In terms of appliances, we really like AEG. They offer a fi ve-year warranty for kitchen specialists and really sensible backup. They’re very helpful. Miele are very good, too. In terms of bathrooms, we tend not to stick to any particular brands and cherry-pick based on the customer brief. On the kitchen side, the problem is appliances being sold online for much less than we can offer. Appliance suppliers argue that we can just make up that margin on the furniture.
What we’re doing to compete is displaying and demonstrating the appliances and offering a service people can’t get online. Luckily, our customers appreciate the extra level of service and expertise that we offer and are happy to pay a bit more.
August 2019 · kbbreview
Business has been very strange since the Brexit vote
69
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 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80
