To slightly misquote Jane Austen: “It is a truth, universally acknowledged, that a KBB retailer in want of a sale must open their doors to one in possession of a good fortune.” But the question is, what time should those doors be open to receive them? 

Many have accused the UK’s age-old high-street retail model of business hours between 9:00am and 5:00pm, six days a week, as a tad outdated for modern life. So it’s no surprise that due to the lengthy and more bespoke nature of the KBB sector’s retail model, there seems to be a lot of variation over when kitchen and bathroom studios decide to remain open for business, especially compared to other sectors.

For example, Belinda Dangerfield, design director at Qudaus Living, made the decision to close her showroom on Mondays, which she says gives her designer two consecutive days off, instead of just alternating days – a bit like a weekend that’s been shifted over a day in the calendar. “This change was made to improve her work-life balance, allowing her to return to work feeling more refreshed and focused,” she explains.

Aside from just being well-rested, Dangerfield also says that closing the showroom itself one day a week gives the team the opportunity to focus on other tasks, such as making site visits. 

Late nights

Most KBB retailers favour sticking to that tried and tested schedule immortalised by Dolly Parton – working 9-to-5. But one retailer who bucks the trend is Chris Foote, director at Total Bathroom Installations, whose showroom is open from nine in the morning until seven at night.

“It used to be until 8pm, but since lockdown we find people are less inclined to use out-of-hours,” he observes. “The late nights were mainly for appointments but also as a backup for home designs. In fact, our home visit diary is much more daytime-focused now with occasional evening calls. Although five years ago this was mostly done in the evenings.”

However, another way that retailers ensure they have time to complete admin tasks is by keeping regular hours of business but closing the doors and moving to an appointment-only basis for client visits. 

Although this business model was certainly not uncommon before Covid, the stringent rules around lockdowns and social distancing helped it see a boom in popularity. Plus, as many retailers will remember, appointment-only visits were the only way that showrooms could remain open at certain points of the pandemic.

In fact, as pandemic restrictions were beginning to ease in 2021, a kbbreview poll found that 60% of KBB retailers said they were moving to an appointment-only basis, even after rules governing things like shop occupancy numbers were about to be relaxed.

“Since the ‘C’ word we have kept to appointment only,” says Tina Riley, managing director of Modern Homes. “It allows us to allocate plenty of time – hopefully without interruption – for each client. Most of us are conditioned to making appointments so it doesn’t seem to upset anyone.”

But aside from just affording her greater time management, Riley also believes that moving to an appointment-only model helps time-poor retailers discern whether a potential client is actually looking to complete a sale, or just wants to window shop.

“Having the client make a commitment to an appointment shows they are serious and we are then prepared to spend as much time as they should want with them,” she believes. “There is a totally different mindset when working with a client who is a serious prospect than an occasional ‘tyre-kicker’ on a wet Saturday afternoon.

“On a personal level, having opened Saturday and also Sundays for a very long time, it can impact on your work/life balance. By booking a client in, it becomes no issue to just arrive, get the coffee on, and be ready for the appointment. There’s nothing more depressing than spending a  whole weekend at work with no clients!”

Jerry Shaw, co-owner at Ray Munn Kitchens, also swears by the appointment-only model. “We can set aside time to get specific project related work done in a timely manner so we are as productive as possible,” he says, although he notes, “We do still get occasional walk-ins, so we obviously need to be flexible to welcome them and address their needs.”

Peak trading

Back in September, for a feature celebrating kbbreview’s 40th anniversary, we asked a group of long-established retailers about how they’d seen the industry change over the last four decades. One point that was raised again and again was that Saturdays were widely-regarded as the single most important business day for retailers in times gone by.

Phil Beechinor, managing director of Alexander, went as far to say that “Everything was done on a Saturday in the showroom. It was always very, very busy at the weekends”.

Commenting on the article, Timothy Gent, strategic project manager at Sigma 3, agreed, reminiscing: “I remember it well. We used to design and specify all week then book back-to-back presentations. The showroom used to buzz with people watching others purchase – it was great fun.”

According to retail management company StoreForce, data shows that UK retailers have definitely seen a significant shift in peak trading times. 

Pre-Covid, 54% of consumer footfall occurred during the two-day weekend period, with weekday trading making up the remaining 46%. However, post-Covid, this has been flipped totally on its head, with 55% of total weekly footfall traffic taking place during the week, and weekend trading seeing only 45% of foot traffic.

With once-quiet weekdays now generally seeing more business throughout the week, it’s no surprise that many busy retailers actually confess to shortening their opening hours these days.

Julie Stevens, sales designer at Hale & Murray recounts: “We changed our hours from closing at 5pm to 4pm because of Covid. We don’t have many customers trying to come in after 4pm now – we do get some phone calls but we monitor those and know if we have missed any.”

According to Toma Navickiene, co-owner of Kutchenhaus Potters Bar and Welwyn Garden, her showrooms have reduced not just hours but specific days of business. “Initially, we tried opening on Sundays, but in our showroom locations, most shops are closed that day, so we decided to follow suit,” she says.

“We offer evening or Sunday visits by appointment only. These hours allow us to provide a balance between serving our customers effectively and maintaining a healthy work-life balance for our team.”

Which raises an interesting point: does the actual location of your showroom impact what hours you should be open?

Julian Stammers, manager at J S Designs & Interiors, absolutely thinks so, and says it’s a truth he learned through trial and error. “We switched to an appointment-only basis initially, but as the restrictions got relaxed people went back to coming into the showroom, often on weekdays and without warning. As we work in a small town, we had to adapt to the changes and working routines of our clients. We now make appointments with clients to come in for presentations when we do the site surveys to ensure that we keep them engaged with the design process.”

Flexible thinking

With clients expecting more flexibility now, many retailers say they’re happy to open up for out-of-hours appointments. Dangerfield estimates her business does this for approximately one-in-five clients. However, at the total opposite end of the scale is Gary Walmsley, managing director at Designer Walls & More, who says there’s merit in sticking to your guns. 

He explains: “I became appointment-only because you simply cannot afford to sit and wait. However, it’s been years since I opened out of hours to accommodate clients – there’s very little thanks for it.”

Somewhere in between these two viewpoints is Julian Stammers, who says his business holds out-of-hours appointments “rarely”, but specifies that: “The few times we have opened out of hours it is when the clients are trying to make final choices and both want to be involved. I think being flexible can make the difference between getting and losing a job.”

This idea of flexibility seems to be at the heart of the discussion around opening times for KBB retailers. Belinda Dangerfield, for example, says she’s considering implementing a Sunday opening slot – although only one Sunday a month – to cater for clients who can’t make Saturdays.

Aside from just that, retailers say they need to be flexible around consumer habits because of their showroom location, flexible about when to meet clients and when to be designing, and perhaps most importantly of all, retailers need to be flexible to ensure they preserve their own sense of work/life balance.

As the trend for wellness and self-care continues its meteoric rise in relation to kitchen and bathroom design, perhaps as time goes on we’ll see even more retailers tailoring their opening hours to enjoy some well-earned relaxation time away from the showroom too?