RANGE REVIEW: HARDWARE


the business is key cutting, which initially used to be hidden away in the back of the shop. However, after realising the potential in that trade, all the keys are now effectively displayed behind the counter, an unusually eye-catching way to inform customers of the extra service offered at Sandy’s. Andy says they “quite often do


promotions on keys, and that’s very good. You don’t end up paying very much for the blanks it’s more the service you pay for, and we’re a lot cheaper than Timpsons and we try and push that.” Just at that moment Andy leaves


the room to cut a key for a customer, demonstrating the dedication to the service he mentioned just moments ago. “He’s


a born shopkeeper,”


Margaret says, referring to her son Andy. “And so am I. But we can just rely on him and he has a brilliant way with the customers – both women and men – and it creates a fantastic atmosphere. It’s not like coming to work, it’s more like a social occasion,” she laughs.


Stand out from the crowd “There’s a lot of competition. It’s not only the Homebases and the B&Qs that you’re competing against now, you’ve also got discount places, they do a lot of hardware now and a lot of the stuff we sell but you just have to remain competitive,” Andy says after returning from his key cutting. “People don’t have a lot of spare cash in the Medway Towns. It’s difficult because it’s not a particularly affluent area and, therefore, they watch prices, perhaps 10 years ago they wouldn’t have done and they would have been loyal to the little shop, but I think now you have to be a little more savvy with your prices otherwise you could lose people


because of house prices or renting etc,” he adds. Sandy’s Hardware


offers free


local delivery, which is hugely appreciated amongst many of its older customers. “There’s an old chap who lives the other end of Lordswood and he very rarely goes out, he’s not very confident in open spaces. He quite often phones up and I’ll deliver plants and compost to him. It’s a lot of work but you feel like you’re achieving something, especially as he relies on us and would miss us if we weren’t here. There aren’t many places that could offer the service that we do, but we like to do it, and where he’s spending about £50 with us, it’s beneficial for both us and for him. Quite often he phones up and we have a chat for a while before he even begins ordering, so we’re more friends to a lot of people, and hopefully being like that we gain loyalty with them.” Sandy also offers a handyman


service to the local area, separate from the business but under the same name, which is one of the key ways the company has managed to keep abreast of the struggling economy.


Andy explains: “My dad probably started that in the early 90’s, where we had another recession and somebody came in and said could you fix a tap washer and it snowballed from there. He doesn’t advertise because he doesn’t need to; it’s all word of mouth and repeat custom. It’s quite a nice add on to the shop.” Sandy


adds: “The handyman


service offers quite a good opportunity, because the customer will come in asking about whether I can do a job and they’ll often spend a bit of money with us in store as well. I go out every day apart from


Saturday and Sunday, and Margaret comes in three days a week” With the business open seven days a week, Andy says a hard work ethic is paramount when running an independent shop like Sandy’s. “12 hour days are quite normal in the summer months, especially when you’ve done half a dozen deliveries on the way home as well. But that’s how you maintain business, and if you worked out your hourly rate you’re probably working less than minimum wage but when you’ve been here 42 years you do what you have to do. We don’t complain about it because there are lots of people in dead-end jobs that they don’t actually like, they might be earning more but they’re not happy.”


However the uniqueness of the business doesn’t stop there, Sandy’s Hardware is also home to a shop dog called Tommy, and he often brings in a crowd of admirers. “Everybody knows the dog,” laughs Sandy. “He’s on his last legs now though bless him. But people come in sometimes just to see Tommy. He’s a very docile dog which is ideal in the shop.” Margaret adds: “There has been people that come in and say ‘Oh Margaret I don’t want to buy anything but can the kids come in and pet Tommy?’ That’ll be a big thing in the community when he eventually goes.”


Online competition With more and more businesses being


affected continuously by shopping


customers online,


Andy says this hardware shop offers the little products that people are most likely to want immediately, so online competition does not directly damage them.


“I think because the stuff we


sell is fairly small, I don’t think many people will order a packet of screws or a bag of screws online. Particularly with DIY, I think a lot of people wake up and see what the weather is like, if it’s pouring with rain they’re not going to do DIY, so they’ll keep the money in their pocket and wait until it’s a sunny day and then think they’ll want to get out and paint the shed – so it’s unlikely they’ll order online because by the time it’s arrived there it might be raining again,” he says. “I don’t think [online] affects us as much as it does the bigger places, because for what we sell, paints, key cutting, plants, it’s all the things you can’t really do online. We try to change as much as we can in a small shop like this, because you have to move with the times.” With the hardware store taking priority in the Saunders family life, the shop only closes for very special occasions, the most recent of them being Sandy and Margaret’s 60th wedding anniversary. When asked how they celebrated, Sandy replies: “The boys took us to a hotel in Bexhill, where we always spent holiday’s years ago. We had a nice meal, and family all around,” he smiles. Margaret laughed: “On our anniversary it was a running joke in the community that something was wrong because Sandy’s wasn’t open!”


“When we got married, we lived with Margaret’s parents for about 18 months,” Sandy continued. “And then we eventually bought a house, which is the same house we’re in now actually. So we’ve been there for near enough 60 years. 1960 we moved in there and we’re still in it. Property was expensive then, even worse now for young people.” Looking to the future, Andy


says the Saunders family have no intention of slowing down despite their many years trading. “We’ll keep going all the time my


parents are fit and able to work. People like our customer service, they want to come in and see a friendly face. You might be having a bad day, and you might get six customers come in and ask for a screw, and you’re hoping someone will come in for something more, but you have to keep smiling. You have good days and bad days. “Personal service is the biggest key. People come in just to see Tommy or just to take in the smell. People class us as traditional ironmongers, and we try to be as much as we can. Hardware shops are very few and far between, particularly in the South East, and we’re proud to still be here.”


www.diyweek.net 09 NOVEMBER 2018 DIY WEEK 21


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