Shopfloor DEALER PROFILE: KNEES HOME AND ELECTRICAL RETAILER PROFILE: ABBEY APPLIANCES
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Lyn Knight spent years building up her business at Abbey Appliances, and she didn’t shy away from physical hard graft during that time. Now the retailer has started selling fi tted kitchens, is she still out there on the front line installing these herself? Jack Cheeseman went to fi nd out.
bbey Appliances in Evesham started life as a humble little market shop in the town selling vacuum cleaner bags and spare parts, then eventually reconditioned kitchen appliances. Company Director, Lyn Knight, bought the small business and grew it over the following years to what it is today, not just selling appliances but offering installation and servicing too. However, for many years it was a one woman show – before she took on extra members of staff, Ms Knight was delivering, installing and servicing products on her own seven days a week. At one point, she would often spend whole weekends repairing vacuum cleaners – customers called her the ‘Dyson Queen’. Speaking exclusively to ERT, Ms Knight recalls the early days of her business, saying she ended up repairing all kinds of appliances for people all over town. “I’ve always been very practical,” she says. “I look at things and think ‘yes, I can do that’. But I can be a bit of a know-it-all at times!
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“Although I was younger back then, I wasn’t a 20-year-old kid. I was probably in my forties, driving around in my van and shifting heavy machines about. The best thing was taking a six-foot fridge-freezer and a cooker up two flights of stairs once and installing them in someone’s flat. I don’t know how I did it… but I did it! “I’ve now got others around who do all this kind of stuff, and I always say ‘I never ask you to do something I haven’t done myself’. “There isn’t anybody like me,” she continues. “In fact, we had a lady in recently who said ‘I think you’re one of the best companies around – there’s no one like you. I come in here confident that you will sort out anything for me’. And that’s always nice to hear.” Over the years, Ms Knight gradually employed extra staff to help run the shop and help with product installations. One of them was Andrew Clarke, a qualified electrician who, today, takes on the majority of the retailer’s repair and maintenance work. Mr Clarke became Director of the business back in 2011. Having moved to its current store just off the town’s high street nearly 16 years ago, Abbey Appliances became very well-established in the area, and with more store space the retailer began offering more products from more brands. But Ms Knight was determined to maintain steady growth, especially during the recession of 2008. “We didn’t try and expand too quickly – we stuck to what we knew and it’s been little steps since then really,” she says. “We’ve never rushed anything, because you have to be careful in this game. I’ve always believed that you look after what you’ve got; if you deviate too much you’ll lose the core of what built you.”
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