BRANCH FOCUS
FRANK KEY PUNCHES ABOVE ITS WEIGHT IN SHEFFIELD
An independent merchant has revamped and redesigned a branch with the aim of rolling the template out to others in the group.
W
hen is a new branch not a new branch? When it’s been redeveloped and recreated from an existing branch.
Independent family-owned builders merchant group, Frank Key, has begun a branch redevelopment process across the group, starting with its branch in Nunnery Drive, Sheffield which has undergone a complete internal and external refit. The branch, which is a reinvention of the former Builders Centre, acquired by the Frank Key Group at the tail end of 2015, was opened by Carl Froch MBE, a former super-middleweight world champion, and Terry Fox, Councillor for Sheffield’s Manor Castle ward, at an official ribbon-cutting ceremony.
Frank Key Group chairman Chris Cunliffe says the redevelopment is more of an evolution of the group business as a whole. “We started looking at our Sheffield branch and thinking, what can we do here to make this branch reach its potential? We have a great business here and the main focus of the directors and shareholders is to take that great business and make it better, because we know it can be.”
Thus far, he says, the Sheffield branch had been a very traditional business. “It’s very contract-led. Really, all we’re trying to do is open up the doors to more of that customer- led market and take away any reasons those customers have for going to another business by offering them the full one-stop-shop option here. We have that kind of wide offer set-up at our Daybrook, Nottingham flagship branch, but the others across the group are all different sizes and all have their different strengths. Ripley, Derbyshire, for example, is more of a convenience type store as it’s a small site but it does extremely good business.” He adds: “Our Sheffield branch is the standard on which all future Frank Key Building Supplies branches will be modelled. We have consolidated everything under one roof so that our trade and retail customers can find what they need, when they need it. Customers will also notice a fresh, clean environment, increased stock levels, new ranges of everything from electricals and plumbing to paints and general building supplies, plus our new Plant and Tool Hire
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that was available before but with a very limited range.”
offer. We were delighted to welcome Carl Froch as our guest of honour. He’s a regular at our flagship branch in Nottingham. It was a pleasure to have him on board to officially open our Sheffield branch.”
Purchasing director Joe Beale says the company has added more than 3,000 new lines to the Nunnery Drive offer and introduced new ranges into stock such as heating and plumbing, and doors. “We have also added a comprehensive electrical range, painting and decorating, and timber care, an offer that wasn’t available from here before. We have considerably extended the ironmongery and fixings offer too, something
The kitchen and bathroom showroom area has also been completely remodelled and opened up. Toby Stuart-Jervis is Trading Director for Frank Key Group. He says: “Although the branch had a showroom before, it was quite closed in. This has been opened up and extended so it’s more light and airy and shows more of the products off to a better standard. It also has a separate entrance from the trade counter, which is much more welcoming to builders, installers and retail customers.” Having said that, he believes that the bulk of business will come from builders either bringing or sending their household customers along to source the products themselves from the choice available. “The other thing we have done with this branch is that we have brought in Plant and Tool hire, which was offered as part of the wider group but not from here,” he says. Plant Hire has always been a core strength and Sheffield is now the 15th branch across the group to offer a full Plant and Tool Hire range. Cunliffe says that the refurbishment has been put together to make the branch more attractive to the white van man and the jobbing builder. “The aim is quite simple: to provide a solution to any building material requirement of any building customer in Sheffield. We don’t want to give customers any reasons why they should go somewhere else. This is what we want to replicate and put out into the rest of the business.” The plan is to roll the Sheffield template out to other branches, including the Daybrook site in Nottingham. The company’s head office and flagship branch, its roadside location, while great for visibility and brand awareness, does have limitations in terms of what can be done with the site. “It also has lots of different levels and is something of a rabbit-warren, so, while there is a lot to be done there, we will have to be clever about how we do it,” he says, adding that, with such a big, important branch, it needs to be able to manage the disruption to the day-to-day business that a refurbishment would inevitably bring. In that sense, Sheffield acted as a trial. For a start, the site is a relatively straight-forward rectangle, set on an industrial estate. “Also,
www.buildersmerchantsjournal.net December 2019
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