Welcome to The kbbreview Podcast, your host as always is Andy Davies and this week it's Part Two of our How to be a Successful Retailer two-parter.

Andy has been catching up with winners from this year's kbbreview Retail & Design Awards to pick their brains about running successful and award-winning businesses.

Last week was a fascinating conversation between our Special Achievement Award recipient Paul Rowland from CP Hart and our Rising Star of the Year winner Angelika Kotarska from Angelic Bathrooms in Northampton - highly recommend going back to that one if you haven't heard it.

This week, well this is another great one, as we get to hear from our two Retailers Of The Year - Darren Walker from Laings in Inverurie, our Kitchen Retailer of the Year 2024 and Steph Warner from Pier1 Bathrooms in Hove - our Bathroom Retailer of the Year 2024.

These are two very successful and dynamic businesses with two completely different back stories - Laings first opened its doors in 1862, Pier1 in 2019. The Pier1 showroom is about 1,500sqft and Laings is more like 13,500sqft.

Laings employs about 90 people, Pier1….5

And, of course, they're about as far from each other geographically as it's possible to get while still being in the UK.

So two very different businesses, with two very different perspectives on what it takes to be the Retailer of the Year.

Today's episode is brought to you with the support of our very good friends at Lawcris. They lead the field in wood based panel products, laminates and edgings with big brands such as Emporio Skin, Kronospan and many more. With over 40 vehicles in their fleet, they can provide next day delivery on all stocked products. You can find out all about them at lawcris.co.uk

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This is Part One of a two-parter that will conclude next week where we talk to winners from the kbbreview Retail & Design Awards 2024 to get under their skin, hear their stories and see what makes their businesses successful.

Next week, we'll be meeting our Kitchen Retailer of the Year - Laings in Inverurie - and our Bathroom Retailer of the Year - Pier1 Bathroom in Hove. Two very different businesses with two very interesting perspectives on the market.

But to kick it off today we've got an interview that's so interesting, so insightful and actually just gives you a bit of a warm feeling inside.

As many of you will know, at our awards we give out our Special Achievement trophy. It goes to those individuals who have contributed something very special to their business and the industry as a whole and this year it went to… Paul Rowland from CP Hart.

CP Hart is, of course, the premium bathroom retailer that now has 15 showrooms and a £50m turnover. When Paul took it over 20 years ago it was really struggling and he has lead the team that has made it what it is today. He is the retailer's retailer.

At the opposite end of the career path, we also gave out the Rising Star of the Year trophy - this goes to individuals under the age of 30 who are making a real impact in their retail business and the 2024 winner was Angelika Kotarska who started her own bathroom retail business - Angelic Bathrooms in Northampton in 2022, aged just 22.

So, you can see where this is going can't you…we thought it would be a good idea to get them both together and see what lessons they can learn from each other and it's fascinating stuff.

Finding good people, managing through financial crises, the relationship with suppliers, finding customers, marketing - it's all in here and more besides from when Angelika and host Andy Davies went down to the flagship CP Hart showroom in Waterloo to see Paul.

Today's episode is brought to you with the support of our very good friends at Lawcris. They lead the field in wood based panel products, laminates and edgings with big brands such as Emporio Skin, Kronospan and many more. With over 40 vehicles in their fleet, they can provide next day delivery on all stocked products. You can find out all about them at lawcris.co.uk

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This week's episode is all about that staple fixture of showrooms and their relationship with the brands they sell - brochures.

• What do retailers and designers actually use them for?
• What do they say about the brand?
• Do suppliers assume they get given out to every potential customer who comes through the door?
• Are too many simply thrown away and wasted?
• Should they have prices in them or not?

Such simple things touch on so many different aspects of the day-to-day life of a retailer so we're talking it all through with retailers Paul Crow, the MD of Ripples, and Adam Wollerton from Bathroom + Kitchen Eleven in Surrey AND in the supplier's corner Sofia Charalambous from Origins Living.

It's fascinating stuff so let me know what you think, here's my email andrewdavies@taylistmedia.com

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