MERCHANT FOCUS
THE PGR WAY IS ESSEX
Independent builders merchant PGR has been quietly expanding throughout Essex. Fiona Russell Horne takes a look at its latest branch.
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estling in the top left-hand corner of the Essex countryside, the town of Braintree was exactly the sort of area where independent merchant PGR felt that they could offer something that would add value to local customers. The branch in Braintree is PGR’s eighth and branch manager Jamie Anderson says that service is the main focus right from the moment every branch location is decided. “Every branch we set up, we start with a minimum of two lorries and we try to keep a really varied range in stock at the branches, rather than using distribution centres. That way, the stock is there when our customers need it.”
The branch opened earlier this summer and is staffed by six people, including Anderson and assistant branch manager George Wright. Located just off the A120 trunk road, which links the M11 to the west and the A12 to the east, the branch is in an ideal spot, Anderson says, to take advantage of the huge amount of building work going on in the area. “Braintree is a bit of a dormitory town for Chelmsford and Colchester and I can think off the top of my head of about four or five
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big housing developments going on, so it is a town that’s getting bigger and bigger which is good news for us,” he says.
Competition in the immediate area is mainly from the national chains – Travis Perkins out towards Bishops Stortford and Buildbase in Braintree itself. Moving east, Anderson says customers probably have to go all the way to Colchester before they get to any independent competition.
The branch is close to the Braintree recycling centre - the largest one in the area - which attracts a lot of passing trade. Being on the Stansted Airport side of town also helps, Anderson adds, as Braintree traffic can be a law unto itself. “It can take a long time to get across the town, whether you go through the centre, which is often full of roadworks and traffic jams or round by the A120 main road, and then you come up against the Freeport roundabout which gets crazy with traffic at the beginning and end of the day.” Anderson came on board with PGR from a national merchant a couple of months before Braintree was set up, so that he could get to grips with the way the company and the system worked. “It’s been really good
to be able to get so involved in the set-up of the new branch,” he says. “We didn’t really change very much when we took the site over as it was an easier proposition than some others you see. Luckily, we had a pretty square site and a pretty square shop and warehouse area. Some merchant yards are all nooks and crannies and trying to fit stock into odd shaped yards. So we were lucky with this one. That said, there was still a feeling when we got started on stocking up of wondering where we were going to put it all. It’s not until it all comes in that you realise just how much stock is in a merchants. That was a challenge.” He adds that the wide stock range that PGR prides itself on also include more niche products, not always found in mainstream merchants, such as Millboard composite decking. “We are doing really well with this product. Sure, there are other similar types of product on the market, but when you see this one, you really can tell the difference. We also have a lot of brick specials that we keep in stock and like to think that is one of our USPs. We have the more interesting items that our customers need. And they know we have them readily available.”
www.buildersmerchantsjournal.net November 2019
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