Monday February 4 2019 THE NATIONAL MOTORCYCLE MUSEUM, BIRMINGHAM
“We want to
keep evolving and be unique”
fun. The Winchester team are great at cake decoration demos! Plus, from June we have been accepting the
Salisbury Gift Card. This new incentive to support local businesses is a card that you pre-load which is great to give as a present or
for employee rewards. It’s easy to use and helps support Salisbury businesses by keeping the spend in the city. Almost 100 businesses have signed up to accept it, which is great. More recently, we had a stall at Winchester
Independent Market [on Sunday July 22] to promote the store, give advice and tips, sell some of our top products and offer some promotions.
What’s the most rewarding aspect of your job? It's rewarding when we experiment with something new or different, whether it's a new
product and it sells well, or we change the look of part of the store and receive positive feedback from customers. We want to keep evolving and be unique - and it's great to have a team that delivers that.
What’s the biggest challenge facing cookshop retailers? Online.
What’s the biggest opportunity facing cookshop retailers? We offer expert advice in our stores (some of our Winchester employees have been with us for 19 years) and it’s guidance that you won't get online. That personal experience is what keeps customers coming back.
What’s the most exciting thing that has happened in your shop? During the aftermath of the Russian spy incident, Prime Minister Theresa May visited Salisbury to speak with independent stores to see how it had impacted us. It was a brief and
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surreal visit to our store, and it was good to have a bit of publicity for the city.
What advice would you give to someone starting out in cookshop retailing? Product knowledge is absolutely essential, so staff training should be frequently refreshed. Understand who your core customers are, but don't be afraid to try something new or add something different in the mix – you’ll be surprised what can sell well
On March 15, 11 days after the attempted murder of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia, who were poisoned with nerve agent in Salisbury, Prime Minister Theresa May visited the city to speak with independent stores - including Dinghams - to see how it had impacted them. Dinghams director Becca Hardingham recalls: ‘Such a crazy day! The PM visited a few businesses in the area to show her support after the nerve attack. They chose us because of being a family business and well established. “On entering the shop Mrs May said, ‘Oh, don’t take me to
a cookshop!’ She came in and spoke to me and my family about how it had affected us. I think she wanted to help us as much as she could. It was nice that she wanted to. Unfortunately she was whisked away and didn't buy anything - but she said she would come back if she was ever in Salisbury.”
Five years ago this month in Housewares Magazine…
• Department store group John Lewis confirmed plans to open a shop at Heathrow Airport’s Terminal 2 in June 2014.
• Online retailer Amazon signed up to take part in the next ‘Meet the Buyer’ Day organised by BHETA (British Home Enhancement Trade Association).
• Homeware chain Cath Kidston was preparing to launch its biggest ever store, just in time for Christmas. Doors opened to the London flagship, which offered 7,000sq ft of retail space over three floors at 180 Piccadilly, on December 5.
• Celebrity chef Rick Stein CBE scooped the top spot in the nation’s best-selling non-fiction hardback chart with ‘Rick Stein’s India: In Search of the Perfect Curry’.
• KitchenCraft became one of the first companies in the housewares industry to use HTML5 technology with the launch of its updated
website. The supplier said the HTML5 imagery and functionality ‘offers a more exciting interactive user experience’ for both retailers and consumers, with videos, seasonal suggestions, recipes, care and use guides, news and information on over 3,000 products.
• Housewares supplier Meyer Group announced that a new kitchenware collection, designed in conjunction with celebrity chef Raymond Blanc OBE, would be available in-store from August. The range comprised hard anodized aluminium cookware, cast aluminium cookware, knives, tools and gadgets, woodware and bakeware.
• After a successful trial in 2012, wholesaler Home Hardware announced that its Home Cooking catalogue was available to all its retailers. The 56-page booklet contained over 900 products.
Source: Housewares Magazine July 2013
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