RETAILING
its former premises in Longton – now a YMCA charity for the local community – where it recreated the original set up of the shop when it first began trading in 1958. “It all started in 1948, originally set up by Ronnie Blundell, who, after suffering an injury during the war,
A began a delivery round,
which sold hardware to the villages around the area from the back of an old wagon,” says Nick Thompson, who bought Blundell’s from the founder’s son in 2015.
The business then traded as ‘R Blundell - Ironmonger’, and it was fairly soon upgraded to a step- inside mobile shop in a converted coach. Ronnie’s wife
joined the
venture, selling items from their house in Walmer Bridge. “It got to the point where so many people were coming to the house asking them for things that they decided to look for a shop for her to run, along with her sister, Nick says. “So they found a shop and rented it from a local supermarket group that’s quite well-known in the North West. They had a couple of units to rent out for the meantime before they planned their eventual expansion, and that became the first premises that Blundell’s had, and they moved in in 1958.” Ten years later, the supermarket
group chose to expand and take back the whole building, so Blundell’s needed to find somewhere else to trade from, and the family found new premises further along the road in the same village, which is where the hardware shop still trades from today.
“Their son Graham joined in 1971 and worked at Blundell’s full time until 2015 when he sold it to
me.It had been on the market for years and there weren’t really many takers; business was in decline really. He was looking into his retirement and, if he didn’t sell it, he would need to clear all the stock. It was looking like end game really, so I decided to buy it from him.”
Changing the game “We’ve been here for three years, and we have changed the business massively. The turnover when I bought it was at £300,000 and we will be way over half a million this year,” Nick says proudly.
“It’s essential that people understood there was continuity of our business, I came in and took it over but I didn’t change the name
16 DIY WEEK 28 SEPTEMBER 2018
to my name. I wanted it to continue to be Blundell.” Nick chose to rebrand Blundell’s under the Home Hardware umbrella; joining 400 independent members. “I think because of that branding, people trust and understand that as we’re part of something bigger, we are clearly competitive, it gives us a professional look and I think that definitely helped. “We have expanded our
range
of products, we’ve been able to negotiate better prices, and a big part of what has helped the business is extending our opening hours, and we promote that heavily. It’s given us access to people who work during the week, younger people are now starting to
shop with
us, and so we have a whole new customer base. People are coming in
on a Sunday because they are doing odd jobs, and we’re there for them.” When it comes to product
offering, Nick says the changes in season means the customer will always need something. “We had a fantastic winter selling fuel and electric fires and general winter products, insulation and the rest of it – and then as soon as spring kicks in we had a whole range of gardening products, decorating products,
cleaning products and
then this summer we did well in gardening too. It seems to me there is something for every season, and it’s not that difficult.”
Nick has worked for garden
centres his “whole life”, mainly for Barton Grange and Klondyke Strikes garden centres. “I worked for Focus DIY for a little bit as well, so I had
a bit of experience with the DIY and general goods side of things, such as housewares and so on,” he adds. “I always really wanted to have a go on my own. I had a couple of false starts where the almost-acquired businesses, for whatever reason, weren’t completed, and then I left Barton Grange in 2014 when they sold the branch that I was running to Wyevale.”
This is something I have always wanted to do, and I’m lucky that I’ve been allowed to learn my craft working through Barton Grange and Klondyke Strikes particularly. Some really good people from both of those companies allowed me the freedom to learn all about retail, so where I’m in my own business now – I know a bit about the buying, about the margins and I know what
www.diyweek.net
ugust bank holiday weekend saw Blundell’s Hardware host a temporary exhibition at
“Keeping one foot in the past and an eye on the future”
Blundell’s Hardware celebrated its 70th anniversary with a heritage weekend showcasing the colourful history of the business, Kiran Grewal speaks to Nick Thompson, the current owner, about embracing the roots of the company.
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