Combining the expertise of two specialists can be the making of a successful business. That's exactly what Neil Partridge and Darren Cherry did when they merged their two businesses to create NGI Design in Stamford, Lincolnshire. Rebecca Nottingham went to meet them... 

When Neil Partridge, a contemporary home furnishing store owner, and Darren Cherry, a property developer and bathroom and kitchen installer, were introduced by a mutual friend they realised that by combining both specialist areas they had a potentially strong business idea.

The trend for combining kitchens and living rooms to create one open-plan living space has been gathering pace over the past couple of years and the two friends realised they had the necessary skills to make this style trend a reality.

"Neil had been running a successful furniture and lighting store further up the road since 1998 and I had my own property development and installation business. We were introduced by a mutual friend as Neil needed an installer for a job he was doing," explains Darren Cherry. 

"We struck up a strong friendship as we worked together more often and then the opportunity to sell kitchen furniture came up. We decided that by joining forces, and going into business together, we could be much bigger." 

Partridge continued to operate his business, Nigel Gibson Interiors, from its premises and they began selling kitchens and then bathrooms under the company name NGI Design. "This all happened about three-and-a-half years ago and it worked well until the kitchens and bathrooms side of the business suddenly took off in a big way," explains Cherry. "We realised that we needed to change the focus and create one showroom that covered all aspects of living." 

NGI Design moved to its new premises, a 17th century Grade Two listed building, just off the high street in Stamford, Lincolnshire, in December 2008 during the toughest trading conditions for decades. 

"The timing wasn't great to merge the two businesses, we were right in the middle of a recession but it was a Catch 22 situation," says Cherry. "The business had got too big for the old premises and we felt it was the right time to merge the two and rebrand everything."The new building was in a pretty bad state, and if we'd known everything we know now, we probably wouldn't have taken it on. It took us four months to renovate from top to bottom and we finally opened the doors in April 2009."

It's not hard to see why they fell in love with the building, its all-brick façade and bowed ceiling gives it a real edge and a warm, welcoming atmosphere that encourages you to go inside unlike so many over-styled showrooms that can sometimes put visitors off. Location is everything, so did the decision to move away from the main high street affect business? 

"Stamford is a very touristy town and the quaintness of the building and our little knick-knacks encourage people to come inside and take a look around," explains Cherry. "We still get a lot of passing trade and people tend to visit Stamford for the day, to have a nose round the shops. We're also pretty well placed, located opposite the George hotel, a famous old coaching inn."

Stamford is a quaint Georgian town, steeped in history and brimming with traditional old brick houses, so why such a contemporary offering?

"Part of the philosophy of our store was that we wanted to make high-end contemporary furniture and living more accessible to people by being here in Stamford and not London where you'd expect to find this level of cutting edge design," says Partridge. "We offer very contemporary, high-end kitchens, bathrooms and living furniture which is quite unique for this area. There are lots of traditional furniture specialists around, but you'd have to go quite a distance to find anything similar to what we offer. The age of our showroom works well as it shows potential customers how well contemporary furniture looks against a traditional, brick building. 

"If you were shopping in London for the portfolio of products we've got here, you'd be traipsing around for hours," he adds. "The beauty of our showroom is that we've got a great selection in one place, and that's a pretty big selling point for us."

Everyone on Wigmore Street has to have some sort of exclusivity deal with the manufacturers they deal with and that's something we don't come across very often," says Partridge. "I think that having a showroom on Wigmore Street is a lot less significant today than it used to be. I'm not sure people want to traipse all the way to London for a good kitchen anymore."

The 3,500 sq ft showroom is set over two floors, with kitchen and home furnishings on the ground floor and bathroom, bedroom and fabrics on the first floor.  The ground floor of this showroom perfectly demonstrates how blending the boundaries between kitchens and living rooms can work and really focuses on selling the lifestyle rather than each individual product.

The showroom has a regular list of more than 1,800 suppliers, many of whom they've worked with for years. Brands include Marazzi, GSG, Presotto, Dornbracht, Alape and NGI chooses to focus its attention on just one brand of kitchen furniture, Italian manufacturer Cesar - a shrewd business move considering the company has very few dealers in the UK. 

"We chose Cesar because for a while it was almost exclusive to our showroom. In terms of furniture, it offers such a wide spectrum of finishes, ranging from basic laminates at the lower end to some really high-end kitchens in real wood finishes like ebony," explains Partridge. "We designed the entire showroom ourselves to ensure we did each of our suppliers and manufacturers justice. The kitchen company tried to take over the whole showroom, but we wanted to put our own stamp on it and you've also got to consider the fact we're in the UK and not Italy.

"We offer a range of living room furniture and accessories and we wanted to integrate those products into our kitchens to get across the feel for blending living and kitchen spaces together."Cherry and Partridge firmly believe in diversification and actively encourage KBB retailers to branch out into other areas that complement their current service and product offering. 

"From a retail perspective, if you're already a kitchen retailer with a specialist fitting team, featuring living room furniture in your portfolio is not a trauma because installing it is a breeze compared with fitting a kitchen," explains Partridge. "We went in reverse really but it's a natural progression for kitchen retailers and an easy addition to your business."

The store offers a complete design and fit service on all kitchen, bedroom, bathroom and living room furniture. Partridge specialises in the design side of each project while Cherry, whose background is in installation, project manages the specialist fitting team on every job. 

"We deal with every project from start to finish. I project manage the whole thing with a team of specialist fitters," explains Cherry.  

It has been a difficult move with months of serious showroom renovations behind them. So how is the business doing now?"

Without the headache and expense of a move, we'd have had a really good trading year, even with the recession," says Partridge. "Cash flow was a worry as we had the renovation costs and two leases to cover. But with enquiries from six months ago turning into projects, we feel like we're motoring along.

NGI Design on....

The internet

"If you'd asked us 18 months ago about the effect of internet selling on our business the answer would have been very negative. Some manufacturers don't seem to care who they sell to and that's the problem. In the end it devalues the brand when products are so widely available and that's what happened with Miele. They have a really good, tight strategy now as a result."

Charging for design

"We've just started charging £250 which is refundable against order. It was a really difficult decision because you don't want to appear arrogant, but on the other hand, these designs take a long time to produce and someone could just take them away with no guarantee they'd place the order with us. Our clients don't have a problem with it, in fact they seemed more surprised when we didn't charge."

Support for small businesses

"There's so much going against small businesses it's a real struggle to get them off the ground. Local governments should offer much more support because at the end of the day they add value to the economy and boost high streets." 

Custom installation

"Our customers are increasingly asking for this kind of installation so we researched it and now have ties with companies that specialise in custom installation. We do limited AV integration in projects ourselves but we get the specialists in if they want something a bit special." 

Lighting

"Lighting is becoming a vital part of design and we're noticing more and more consumers are looking for integrated light sources,especially in their kitchens. We're looking at lighting from a much wider perspective now and without going too mad, we try to be much more innovative."