PARTNER PROFILE
L
ocation, location, location: the mantra is as important for a new builder’s merchant branch as it is for a new house. The right location won’t do it all but it will give your branch an advantage. That’s what Malvern-based builders and plumbers merchant Martyn Rees thinks anyway. The Director of County Building Supplies opened a new branch in Cheltenham at the end of November and says it is in a “cracking spot. Right opposite Howdens Joinery.” Not only that, but next door is, he reports, the best French bakery in Gloucestershire. “On Saturday mornings there are massive queues, often up to 400 yards long, to get in there. It is always heaving in there and that was another draw for us for the location.”
Collect branch
The new branch is County’s second in Cheltenham, so it is referred to as Cheltenham Two, and is collection-only. “It can take some of our builder customers 35 or 40 minutes just to get across Cheltenham, there’s nowhere else up that end of town really. Customers used to complain to us, so we thought it would be a sensible move to have a branch there.” Like the County depots at Tetbury and Evesham, Cheltenham Two has sufficient space to keep all its timber inside, which Rees believes will prove a real draw for customers. “More and more of our customers are asking for this. Anyone doing say a loft conversion doesn’t want to be carrying wet dripping lengths of timber around, they want it to be as dry as possible. Obviously, that’s not something we can do at all the branches because of space considerations but where we can the customers really do appreciate it”. Cheltenham Two also includes a joint venture company called EV Futures which supplies and fits charging points for electric vehicles. Initially, the chargers were being sold
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COUNTY LINES
It’s been a really tough 12 months, but that hasn’t stopped the self-styled ‘happiest builders merchant in the world’ from making the most of every opportunity. Fiona Russell Horne caught up with Director and proud NBG Board Member Martyn Rees.
through the County renewables showroom, but the company saw an opportunity to take it one step further. “It makes sense. We know the builders and they are starting to see demand from all sorts of places such as sports clubs and private schools, as well as housing developers. It’s a fantastic opportunity because everyone wants to future proof themselves and their business.”
Rees believes that, with the government banning the sale of new diesel or petrol cars after 2035, such products will quickly go
mainstream. “We will have been there at the beginning. It also makes sense to put in your charger now, while you can still get a £350 grant from the government towards it. Our developer customers are putting false charger boxes on the front of their new houses. These have all the electrics pre-fitted and there’s a note on the box that says ‘welcome to your new house, if you wish to connect up an EV charger for your vehicle, ring this number’ - which is us - and we supply and commission it.” The company is also now selling its own
January 2021
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