RANGE REVIEW: HARDWARE
really,” Sandy agrees. The store itself is relatively small, but the Saunders family has made use of every inch of space available to them. The shelves are stacked with products, with the aisles cleverly signposted to deter customers from feeling overwhelmed at the variety. Andy says: “the people that use
us are very local” so, for them a very focused method of advertising works well for the business. “We use Facebook a lot for promoting the business and we’re also on a Walderslade and Lordswood website, so all the local people who are likely to use us see what we put up there,” he adds. “I sort of run the shop on my own, Monday to Saturday and my parents will run it on the Sunday when I have my day off. If you want to monitor a website, there’s only so much you can do – you can have your hands in too many pies and, at the end of the day, we are here to serve the customer,” Andy says.
SMILE SERVICE
with a
Sandy’s Hardware has stood the test of time in Kent, surviving three recessions and offering consistency to the local community. Kiran Grewal visits the shop to meet the family behind the business.
20 DIY WEEK 09 NOVEMBER 2018
and turntables. But, when acquired by Terry Saunders (known as Sandy) and his wife Margaret, it was converted into a DIY store, and the foundation of the company’s philosophy has now seen it through many times of financial struggle. Their son, Andy, joined the business aged 25 after leaving the catering trade, and now runs the hardware store with his parents. “We’re open seven days a week, which you have to do in this day and age,” says Andy. “We put a lot of focus on customer service. It’s all about the customer, and I think that’s why we’ve stayed in business for so long. It’s very rare that you get a customer come in and we don’t know their name – and, if not, we definitely know their face. You get to know them and people like the personal service.”
S “They’ve all become friends
andy’s Hardware began in 1976, previously an electrical shop in the
Lordswood area, selling stereos
A wealth of knowledge The community members vary in age, and they all take an interest in Sandy’s Hardware. However, Andy says younger people tend to lack the same skills as the older generation, and this helps them to impart their knowledge onto them. He says: “The youngsters don’t have the DIY skills, so they rely on people like us, they couldn’t go to B&Q and get the advice that we can provide, they say they can’t anyway. My dad’s generation would have done a lot of their DIY themselves, and perhaps even my generation now, but the kids these days; they’re good on computers but some can’t even change a fuse!
“In some ways that’s good for us because it means they can come to us and get advice. Something that might have seemed basic to someone 30 years ago isn’t quite the same now. They want to know what drill size they have to use or what screw is best, and we can tell them all that, whereas they go to the bigger shops and they’re unlikely to get the same care and attention.”
Bedding plants have been a huge
selling point for the shop, and that becomes a good way to increase revenue over the spring and summer months. To merchandise the products, the Saunders family say they make full use of the front of shop, with a huge display of plants. “People look forward to our plant displays because it brightens the place up a little bit,” Andy says. “They know summer’s coming when they see our plants outside,” chuckles Sandy.
Another successful aspect of
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