Minilab News
FUJIFILM BOOSTS RETAILER WITH THE ‘WIGHT’ STUFF BPI News catches up with Island Photo Centre owner Steve Brown, to discover how Fujifilm’s continuing support and product line up has helped an established business on the Isle of Wight to grow even bigger…
W
hen we last spoke to Island Photo Centre, former Fujifilm ‘Shop of the Year’, some 12 months back, the talk was all of pop-up portrait studios and photo workshops – both suggested as great ideas for expanding your customer base and driving sales of prints and photo processing products. While that’s still the case when we reestablish contact in 2020, there have been some big changes for the business – not least a move to new, larger premises. Plus the awards keep on coming, with owners Steve and Amanda Brown telling us that they’ve been named ‘Independent Retailer of the Year’ by the local Isle of Wight radio station. The bigger premises in Ryde are a stone’s throw from their old store – their second shop in Newport, which was already larger, has stayed the same. The move was prompted by a need to essentially do more of what they do well, plus pursue further clever ideas for business generation. Since they took on the new premises last October, it’s been all hands to the pumps, putting in a new contemporary looking wood floor and establishing a balance between the vintage fittings and the latest high tech hardware.
A BIGGER SPACE FOR BIGGER PLANS “It’s a lovely old Victorian building with a big skylight, so it has a lot of character and a wow factor,” marvels Steve Brown. “The old shop didn’t have enough room for all we’re doing now. Fortunately we’ve now got a back room that is five metres square, for use as a studio. We’ve also got a large full height cellar which is divided up into eight rooms which we’re using for photo gifting, mounting pictures and doing all the other bits that we want to do.” Island Photo Centre Ryde’s first day of business last November saw exclusive deals offered, plus the likes of Fujifilm and its business partner Swains in attendance. “Fujifilm and Swains played a big part in a successful opening,” Steve acknowledges. “We had a trainer from Fujifilm come down and they’ve also paid
for one of our display cabinets. Luckily we were able to use the existing black Fujifilm sign from our old shop on the new one, with a bit of adjustment.” Because Steve and Amanda now have a bigger double-fronted shop, a lot more people are noticing them, and sales are on the up. “Re-locating has definitely made an
Home grown success: Steve and Amanda Brown are constantly coming with innovative ideas to generate revenue for their business, which has allowed for the recent expansion of their premises, seen here
impact,” nods Steve. ‘Our processing and framing services have really taken off, now we can display them in a larger space. So a big part of what Fujifilm is doing is really paying off for us.” While some retailers would view taking on a larger premises in the present climate as potentially risky, Steve disagrees: “I looked at it more like we were losing sales, because the old shop wasn’t big enough to show everything that we did. Now we can show it all, everything has taken off because of it. “So now one of our windows is full of stock and the other window is services we offer. And a lot of people are reading our posters and banners and coming in and saying: ‘I didn’t realise you did that.” The natural layout of the 150-year-old building housing the new store has also played to the Brown’s advantage. “There is lovely old shelving across half of the shop, which is ideal for displaying frames. And above that is a huge Victorian skylight four metres across, which we’ve painted in tones of grey for a more
To discover how Fujifilm can inspire ideas and help boost the profile and bottom line of your own store or minilab, 16 April / May 2020 | BPI News
www.bpinews.co.uk
