New Glasswells showroom gets off to a flying start in Ipswich
Glasswells new 73,000 sq.ft. Ipswich home furnishings showroom is off to a flying start, according to managing director, Paul Glasswell.
Despite tough trading conditions, he reports that the new store has been well received and consistently busy since opening on 6th December. More than 70 permanent posts were created at the outset and several temporary staff have been offered permanent jobs by Ipswich general manager, Andrea Johnston.
"When the building programme started back in April 2008 it was already apparent that difficult trading conditions were ahead," Mr Glasswell said. "And so we were, to some extent, prepared. Inevitably, there were times when we wondered if this was the right step to be taking."
"No end of people have asked me if I would have gone ahead, knowing a year ago what I know now. The answer has to be yes. I've always had confidence in what we were doing and I knew that to expand Glasswells into Ipswich was the right way forward," he added.
Glasswells has had a successful showroom in Martlesham Heath for nearly 10 years. When it came to building in Ipswich, the long-established family business wanted a store that was consistent with the brand, and so invested £5million in an attractive landmark building on a prominent accessible site on Ranelagh Road. As in Bury St Edmunds, the showroom holds a very wide range of stock, has a table-service restaurant, children's play area and ample car parking.
"Glasswells already had an established reputation in the area. But also, we put huge effort and resources into our opening week," Mr Glasswell explained. "We wanted people to know that we had arrived in Ipswich. We invited in all our existing customers - people who already knew of our other stores. We invited the business community, by teaming up with Suffolk Chamber of Commerce, and we found people in the Ipswich area to be very receptive and welcoming."
"Footfall has been much higher than we might have anticipated and sales have exceeded all of our expectations. Clearly, with Britain in recession, it is hard to predict what will happen in the future, but we are feeling quietly confident. And we are definitely here for the long haul and have a lot of confidence in Ipswich," he added. Glasswells is well set to survive tough times if it sticks to its principles, Mr Glasswell believes.
"Having weathered downturns before, we know that people feel uncomfortable about squandering money on cheap purchases. They tend instead to look for value for money - furnishings that are built to last. And that is just the market that we are in," he said. "source from across the world, and obviously we select carefully for best value. That's something that we have always done and it's what we are known for."
"We're delighted to be here in Ipswich. And it's our intention to consolidate our position in this area by strengthening links with businesses and the local area. We're already supporting several community groups and schools and we look forward to working with them for years to come," he added.
February 2009