The Littlejohn showroom is celebrating its 20th anniversary with a new managing director. Rebecca Nottingham went to meet Simon Gosney and his sister and finance director Sarah Fascione....

The Littlejohn bathroom showroom is an independent family-run business at the heart of the Hampshire market town of Petersfield. Located in the quaint Old Brewery building, and entering its 20th successful year in business, it's not just the bricks and mortar that are steeped in history.

Despite being a modest independently-run, family-owned business, the Littlejohn showroom has become a familiar name in the industry. And my guess is that it's not just the unusual name of the showroom you recognise, but also the name of its founder, Bill Gosney, who, along with wife Pearl, established the business back in 1991.

Bill was made redundant when the bathroom distribution company he was running crashed and burned during the recession of 1991. At a loose end and desperate to put his 10 years' experience of the bathroom industry into practice, he and his wife Pearl faced the recession head on, making the bold decision to set up their own bathroom showroom. "Bill was well established in the industry before deciding to take the plunge and open up this studio," explains Simon Gosney. "It wasn't a decision they took lightly by any means, but they took the plunge and it paid off."

The business remains in the original showroom, however things have changed significantly from the early days. Originally the brewery building, with its three spacious floors,  was home to a variety of small businesses. Bill and Pearl leased 2,000 sq ft of the second floor from the existing kitchen showroom after its owners ditched the failing bedroom side and decided they needed bathrooms to entice clients in.

Fast forward to the present day and the Littlejohn showroom is now under the control of brother and sister team, Simon Gosney and Sarah Fascione, the next generation of the Gosney famiy.  

Although Simon has a degree in construction management, working in the family business was never part of his long-term plan.

"Mum and dad set the business up a week before I went to Nottingham University to study construction management, so it was more by coincidence rather than intention that I started working here" Gosney explains. "I came to work here shortly after graduation as the business was taking off in a big way and they needed someone to look after the installation side. I took on the role of installation manager, and at the time I thought, 'yeah I can do that for a little bit'. Sixteen years later I'm still here and I've even taken over Bill's role."

Although unplanned, Simon's position in the business was much more of a natural career progression than that of his sister.

"I have a degree in hotel and catering management and spent 10 years working as an area sales manager, looking after prestigious venues such as Silverstone and Windsor racecourse," she explains. "When I got married and had children I was looking for a job with a slower pace. Mum had just retired and although, at first, I knew nothing about the bathroom industry, I did have experience of account managing, finance and HR so in that respect it was an ideal move for myself and the company."

Littlejohn today
The family now own the premises outright and the showroom, home to over 60 lifestyle bathroom displays intertwined with dedicated tile, shower, radiator and accessory areas, occupies every floor of the vast 7,000 sq ft building. The Gosneys did well to recognise the potential of the building. It not only has a prime location right on London's commuter belt, but benefits from ample off-road parking, two spacious warehouses and, as Simon explains, a relatively wide target area.

"Petersfield has a population of around 15,000, so it's not a massive place. There are lots of towns of a similar size around us but the nearest big towns are Guildford, Winchester, and Chichester, which are all about 20 to 25 miles away from here so we have quite a nice target area. There aren't a lot of big bathroom showrooms around us, so we're in a pretty good position."

Every display has been carefully designed around 'realistic' bathroom situations with each one styled to suit a particular taste, need or budget.  There really is a display to suit all tastes here with a broad range of suppliers, including Lefroy Brooks, Villeroy & Boch, Sottini, Duravit, Hansgrohe and Kueco. Littlejohn 'The Bathroom Specialist', offers a diverse product portfolio ranging from classic traditional to the highly contemporary.

The displays also benefit from a detailed product breakdown, by supplier and price, so the client can see, at a glance, whether or not it meets their needs. They have also created a dedicated display area purely showcasing the variety of products suitable for cloakroom installations. "Our displays are all in lifestyle settings, that's what works for us," says Gosney. "Customers can visualise what their bathroom would look like and quite often they buy exactly what they see. Usually that's because they relate to the size of the display, the price and products featured or the colour scheme."

Another standout feature is the eye catching Bisque radiator wall display in the showroom's reception area. Simon put the display in a couple of years ago after recognising that some of their clients were sourcing Bisque radiators for their other rooms in their home.

"We're always looking for new market opportunities and it had come to my attention that people were sourcing Bisque radiators, for other rooms in the house," he explains. "There are no standard bathroom radiators on this display, because they're already featured in our bathroom settings, so it really makes the point that we sell radiators that suit every room in the home."

The Littlejohn showroom also benefits from a 'working' shower area which helps customers understand product and price differentiation, something that Gosney insists has proved an invaluable sales tool. "Having a working shower area definitely helps us sell products," he explains. "They love it, it's a real talking point. I'd find some of the more expensive showerheads difficult to sell if we couldn't demonstrate their special features."

Littlejohn offers a supply-only package or a complete design and installation service, made possible by the fact the company employs its own installations teams. Giving the showroom real flexibility in terms of the work they can do and the additional services they can now offer new and existing clients. Including fitter, and Simon and Sarah, the showroom employs 18 people, the majority of whom have been with the company for 10 years or more.

"Over 50% of our current team have worked at Littlejohn for over a decade," says Gosney. We feel this not only helps present a solid team and guarantees continuity for our clients, but also gives a great indication of how well our employer-employee relationship works."

Things are clearly going well at Littlejohn. Simon and Sarah inform kbbreview that around 80% of their business comes through recommendation and with jobs scheduled in the diary until the end of February 2012 things definitely look solid going forward. They are even at the awkward stage of considering taking on a subcontractor to keep up with demand.  

"By the end of October we had already scheduled fitting work in the diary for February next year and that's the best position ever been in," says Sarah. "Our difficulty with that at the moment is deciding whether we need to take on another fitter. We're at the stage where we can't fit any new jobs before March and we don't really want a three-month waiting list."

Next generation
"The business was always Bill's baby and he was well renowned within the industry for what he achieved with Littlejohn," Simon adds. "His was always going to be a tough act to follow and if I can only match the success he had with his career then I will be delighted. I am definitely up for the challenge."

They already have some ideas in mind to secure the future of the business. 

"Moving into kitchens is an obvious way to diversify. We've thought about making the top floor into a kitchen showroom, but it's not a market or product area we know so we've never really got very far with the idea. We want to concentrate on offering our clients a quality service. We're certainly looking at opening up another showroom, an idea that was put on hold because of the recession."