Adopted Retailer December: Harrison James
Continuing our Adopted Retailers series where we follow the journey of small KBB business owners, this month we check in with Olivia Weaver from Harrison James and look at the renovation of the company’s first showroom…
Sponsored by Alku.
Building a business from the ground up, having moved her young family across the country with limited support, Olivia Weaver will need every ounce of her passion to succeed.
The first step of the journey is to open the company’s first kitchen and bathroom showroom in Shifnal, Shropshire. And the 25-year-old has a clear idea of what she wants the finished retail space to be. “We want the showroom to be unique and different.
“It’s a small showroom in comparison to others, but some are in industrial units with things like polystyrene tiles on the ceiling. Our space will be almost like a home with working kitchens both upstairs and downstairs. And a snug.”
The snug is certainly a unique idea. Weaver wants the showroom to feel like an inclusive space, so the idea is to create a place where customers can bring their children and sit comfortably with a cup of tea, or even supplier reps to visit and have a suitable workspace.
Great ideas, however, are sometimes hard to execute and renovating the showroom hasn’t been the smoothest of rides. “The whole place was covered in woodchip wallpaper and as we pulled it off, parts of the plastering came off with it,” explains Weaver. “There was no central heating in the property because it was all electric.
“There were plug sockets that had fan heaters plugged in, so we had a new fuse board installed to cope with all the new radiators we’ve put in. We’ve even had to move walls and replace rotting windows, so no, it hasn’t been plain sailing at all.”
The parts of the showroom that are nearly finished are looking great and Weaver says there’s more to do as time goes on. “I’m a big believer in keeping it minimal to begin with, then once the walls are plastered and the basics are in, we can move forward and start adding more to a room.
“We want the showroom to feel homely for the customer, so we still have pictures and shelves to go up – we’ve even put our feature in kbbreview on display!”
Family business
Weaver’s husband Harry is also involved with the business and takes care of contracts. The Harrison James company name comes from the couple’s son, Harrison. As she explains: “Hopefully in the future he’ll either take it on or do something with the business, but it’s all to give him the best life. We’re obviously a family run business and we’re fairly young.
“We’re an open and honest company and I know of builders who will hike up the price based on the situation, but we have a steady rate for everyone. Of course, costs may fluctuate depending on the market but we still work to a flat pricing structure.”
That honesty is something that Weaver wants to permeate throughout the whole business, especially in her approach to customer service. “I always like to walk the customer around the site at the end of the day to show exactly what we’ve done.“
I’m sitting at home at 10 o’clock at night sending emails and doing design drawings. You do it because it’s your business and you can’t afford to stop
Olivia Weaver, Harrison James“Sometimes it may look like nothing is happening but it’s a lot of background work and not the pretty stuff that’s immediately obvious, so it’s good to explain that to the customer. We like to keep the customer as close to the project as possible.”
This is a wise approach, considering most of Harrison James’ business at this point is through word of mouth. “We’re very fortunate to have had brilliant customers who have offered excellent recommendations.”
And in Harrison James’ case, it’s especially important for the business as the social media strategy is still to be developed.
Any business owner will testify that Rome wasn’t built in a day and Weaver is putting in the hours to ensure the company’s success. Working with the right suppliers is key and the young entrepreneur says she “heavily buys in to people.”
Reliability seems to be the overriding factor when choosing which brands to work with, as she explains: “I’m very busy and I don’t need additional headaches. Being a working mum who is opening a showroom and also works on site, it’s hard to have a life.
“There’s a massive part of running a business that people don’t realise – I don’t stop. I’m sitting at home at 10 o’clock at night sending emails and doing design drawings. You do it because it’s your business and you can’t afford to stop.”
It’s always interesting to see how different retailers approach finding suppliers for their new showrooms. For bathrooms, Weaver uses Claygate Distribution and says she’s never had an issue. “I just can’t fault them. If there is a problem, they are quick to sort it out with no fightback.”
Harrison James also uses Johnson Tiles and has experienced no issues despite the recent management buyout. For kitchens, TKC supplies the business and Weaver is currently looking at potential suppliers for appliances.
Next steps
Aside from opening the first showroom in Shifnal, the longer-term aim is for Harrison James to grow and add other premises. “We’d like a unit of some sort – not as a showroom but for storage and distribution.
“It will allow us to keep stock of certain items. It’s little things like kitchen end panels, which if something goes wrong on site, we don’t have to wait for another delivery. My ultimate goal is to have a large showroom with a trade counter.”
This would be Weaver going back to her roots, having previously worked for the likes of City Plumbing and Travis Perkins – an environment where she learned the ropes and found a lot of joy.
Weaver is thinking even further ahead. She explains: “When the business is more settled and the showroom is complete, I’d love to have a spray booth and touch up paint ourselves.
“I also want to buy the kitchens in flatpack and build them rigid so we can bespoke them better rather than on site. I just want to make sure we accommodate our customers more and offer them greater options.”
The Harrison James showroom is still a work in progress, so when asked what she would change if starting all over again, Weaver said: “Ask me in a year’s time!” Those twelve months will obviously serve the business well as Weaver learns more about the local area, its clientele, and what works for the business.
The next time we catch up with Weaver, it will be at the opening of the Harrison James showroom. Until then, we wish our adopted retailer the best of luck.