INDEPENDENT FOCUS: RETAILING
to go down very well. There were also people taking photographs and laughing. We try to draw attention and it seems to work. Thousands of people stopped by to take photos and laugh out loud!” “Hardware shops, especially old ones like these, people will constantly come in and say ‘Four Candles’ – the famous sketch from the Two Ronnies, the number of time people say it, it’s one of those things where you have to pretend you’ve never heard it before. So, for a long time I’ve had a sign up where it’s a lady laughing in the background you can see a guy with a shotgun in his mouth and it says ‘Please don’t say Four Candles’” “And another classic is ‘Oh, it’s
like an Aladdin’s cave, so I’ve got a sign up saying ‘If I had a pound for every time someone said it’s like an Aladdin’s cave, it would be an Aladdin’s cave’ – we just try to be a bit quirky that’s all.” Mac goes on to explain that making a sale isn’t all that’s important in a business, for both Mac and Simon, they believe being honest with your customer and giving them the best
help they can get, is a better way to ensure they remain loyal. “We don’t lie to people like some others might do,” Mac says. “We’ll give our customers advice and it’s not always to our benefit, if we can get something we’ll let them know or I’ll look it up on the laptop and show them their best option, even if they have to get it elsewhere. People like a bit of honesty and price- wise we’re fairly competitive as well, considering we’re a convenience store as much as anything else.”
Appealing to the millennial When asking Mac about what he thinks the business can do to appeal to younger generations he jokes: “I better start selling coffee!” Mac continues on a more serious note: “Clifton has a mix of the elderly and the young being a University town, so we have quite a range of customers. The challenge is to convince the younger iPhone generation is that they still need to shop where they interact with a human being and the importance of shopping local where they can.”
Donald Trump, Kim Jong Un and Theresa May featured on Gardening products in the shop window display at Clifton Hardware
Clifton Hardware’s unique location means the smart phone generation hit a little snag when entering the store.
“The trouble is when they come in Clifton Hardware their reception gets cut off because it’s a big old building with high ceilings, and the signal is terrible,” he says. “We are what we are, we’re an old style traditional shop that most of our customers appreciate and like and obviously it can be a daunting experience for younger people to come into a place like this, and we try not to make it too daunting – but then again you haven’t seen Simon yet,” Mac laughs.
I’ve got a friend who is going to build me a website sometime this year when he has the time, so I will get around to having more exposure on the internet. It’s just being a bit more media savvy I suppose.”
The Beast from the East didn’t defeat the Independents “When the snow hit us, thankfully I was in Madrid! I flew out on the Tuesday and came back on the Sunday, so Simon had to walk in, as he couldn’t drive, to open the shop. He had a good day and sold all the sledges that we had for about three years stuck out the back, and as nobody could drive anywhere Amazon couldn’t deliver its parcels, and all those people who had ordered snow shovels from the online marketplace didn’t receive them and, well, it’s hard luck!” Looking to the future of Clifton
Hardware, Mac considers the possibility that traditional shops,
22 DIY WEEK 23 MARCH 2018
www.diyweek.net
such as these, may not charm the younger demographic.
“It’s the same old thing with these businesses, they’re not sexy enough for the children to run, that’s the problem with the image. “Most hardware stores are very
difficult to sell, unless you have somebody middle-aged who just wants to retire early and make a decent living running hisor her own business.
It’s very hard for small business at the moment, both with the impact of internet shopping and the closure of banks. We all know how hard it can be to sort out a problem when you are not face to face with someone. The Beast from the East really showed the importance of a good local business to the community. We turned up for work. Where was Amazon?”
At a glance Clifton Hardware
Address: 19 Regent St Clifton Bristol
BS8 4HW Telephone: 01179 706260 Email:
cliftonhardware1@outlook.com Shop established: 1994 Selling space (can be estimated): 6 cubic metres Staff number: three Main suppliers: Decco, Stax Fairway Electrical
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