NEWS EXTRA


B&Q LAUNCHES ITS HIGH STREET GAME CHANGER


Kingfisher-owned retail chain B&Q recently opened its first local, high street B&Q store in North London in a move thatt could potentially have huge repercussions for the independent DIY market. Jenny Wonnacott reports.


B&Q’s first high street store opened officially on March 10, with an appearance from ex-footballer Martin Keown as well as local school children


O


ccupying just 3,000 sq ft of a former Post Office site on Holloway Road, B&Q’s latest venture is a far cry from its


usual warehouse-stye stores, the largest of which measured almost 170,000sq ft at its opening in 2004. Having opened with the usual multiple fanfare – ex-footballer Martin Keown cutting the ribbon, as local school children performed – the inner city store is already creating ripples in the North London community. B&Q, which has used its new, simplified logo as trialled in its first ‘Big Box’ store in Cribbs Causeway last year, as well as a striking new mural on the outside of the store walls, is keen to reiterate that this is a trial store and remains tight-lipped about plans for further small-format outlets. Whether this is the start of a whole new era for B&Q or just an interesting side bar, the Holloway Rd store has already sent shock- waves through the independent DIY industry, particularly those in closest


6 DIY WEEK 31 MARCH 2017


proximity to the new store. Speaking to DIY Week less than a week after B&Q’s grand opening, R&N Hardware manager Bhavin Patel said that his family-run store, located just a stone’s throw from the new B&Q, was already suffering. “There is no business for us right now,” he said. “There is a big product overlap with what we sell and, since B&Q opened, business has been down. No one has enquired about paint. We’ve had hardly anyone through the door.”


At just a fraction of the size the retailer usually


occupies, B&Q


Holloway Road is, of course, not able to offer the typical range of products and services customers might expect from a run-of-the-mill, 43,000sq ft outlet. The stock has been kept to mainly smaller items, which London shoppers can easily take away with them, from light fittings to tins of paint, adhesives and sealants, brushes and batteries. There is, however, the facility to design a kitchen, mix paint and select flooring products, from tiles


to timber. Owner of London-based independent DIY chain The Tool Shop and BIRA president, Vin Vara had paid the new store a visit and commented that it “looked very good,” with a spacious set up. He


also told DIY Week that “prices are not cheap – only the products that are on special offer,” but reported that the store’s staff, of which there are 15 full and part-timers, appear “well-trained.”


Though the store is already spelling trouble for some local retailers, B&Q insists that its aim is to be complimentary to nearby independents


www.diyweek.net


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