Tina Riley: ‘The number of women in this industry is so much higher’
Continuing kbbreview's 40th anniversary celebrations, we ask Tina Riley, managing director of Modern Homes, about some of the best ways the industry has changed across her career
Q: What was your first role in the industry?
A: Truthfully, my first role was when I was about eight, and that was to earn my pocket money on a Saturday morning by cleaning the showroom for my father. I then went to work for him in 1978 for about six weeks to cover for somebody who was off having an operation. Fast forward 47 years and I’m still here!
Q: How have customers changed? Are they still shopping in the same way?
A: We generally attract an older profile of customer. The issue sometimes there in life nowadays with social media, a younger profile of customer will come in with her Pinterest page or her Instagram pictures that she likes the look of. Then the reality is actually explaining that maybe what they’re looking at is a 70, 80, 90 thousand pound kitchen. Your budget is 15. How are we going to achieve that? My older clientele will use my experience, which comes from a good place, but a lot of younger clients are more likely to argue the toss with you because they think they know better because they’ve read it online.
Q: What’s one of the best things about the way the industry has changed over the last 40 years or so?
A: From my point of view, the number of females within the industry now compared to when I go back to when I first started. I can remember going on a jolly with Neff to celebrate their 21st year in business in the UK. We went to Germany, and out of 52 dealers I was the only female. I would say the last 10 years, the amount of women within the industry – whether it’s owning their own business, whether it’s designers, whether it’s working for manufacturers, it is much, much, much higher now. And I think that is absolutely fantastic.
You can listen to the full interview with Tina, as well as other KBB retailers, in an upcoming episode of The kbbreview Podcast.