Press Release
RIGA, JULY 2023 [XX. MONAT 2018]
Close cooperation with a high level of German quality has led to a Latvian business success.
On a lovelyspring day, we are visiting the SBAND PARTNERI in Latvia’s capital Riga. SBANDPARTNERI has been customers ofGEZE for more than 20 years and we are here to discover the interesting storyof the cooperation between the Latvian companyand GEZE.
When we arrive, we meet with Sabine Beca who is the owner and founder of the company.
Please tell us a bit about the company
“SB AND PARTNERI is a distributor of architectural hardware; Handles, locks, door closers and much more. We have a strong position on the Latvian market and deal directly with the craftsmen, constructors, architects, door and window factories. They send their customers, the private end user, to our store, where we help them select the right products in our show room. We are 22 employees and cover offers for large projects as well,” Sabine Beca explains.
How did it all begin?
“Approx. 30 years ago, I decided to move to Latvia. My family history is Latvian, but I was born and raised in Germany. I went to Latvia as I found it interesting with the changes that went on in the country at that time. “Positively challenging” you may say,” she adds with a smile. “Here I soon began importing products for clients, and that is how the business got started. What started with 500 handles to one project soon became a regular import of many brands for a larger line of customers,” Sabine tells.
How did you first succeed in getting business?
“I grew up in the western capitalism, which gave me the insight of doing business. At the same time, I am German, which mend that customers expected me to deliver high quality; German quality. This became part of my brand and it’s still an important footage of the company,” Sabine says.
The German quality is still a great part of what make SBAND PARTNERI a preferred supplier to many of the Latvian craftsmen and their customers.The end users can visit the showroom,and see the products live.
“The crafts men know that we are here to help their customers. At our place the end user can see and choose between many varieties of e.g. door handles, window handles and locks. These products are important when building a new house. In any building façade the details make the finish, and this is the important message which we sell. We supply a large variety of design and functionality, from the Italian styled door handle with lots of visual styling, to the old fashion type or the large and impressive ones, but we also have a large variety of the clean minimalistic looking door handles.
We have the right product for each and every taste, and we are very experienced in helping the customer finding the right one,” says Sabine, who also mentions the newly launched webshop: sbunpartneri.lv.
What made you start working with GEZE?
“GEZE products are from Germany and the high quality fits perfectly into our product portfolio. We like to be able to offer all the details to the doors, and especially door closers from GEZE is a requested product in our market. We have a great cooperation with GEZE, both directly with the factory in Germany and also locally with Gvido Musperts, with whom we have done business in many years. The service and support in daily business and larger projects is very appreciated. When we have a project, my colleagues can easily get in contact with Gvido, who specify the needed details for the architects and supply us with technical support and good delivery times,” a satisfied Sabine says.
GEZE Boxer is integrated in the historian theater
One of the many projects to whichGEZE has supplied products in cooperation with SBAND PARTNERI, is the Mikhail ChekhovRiga RussianTheater in the inner city of Riga.The theater was renewed in 2010. The entrance doors are equipped with GEZE Boxer door closers. “When supplying to a project in this city, it is important to respect the original architecture. Many buildings were either destroyed during the 2nd World War or in the time following. Most were build up again when our country became independent. The buildings are built in according to the previous architectural style. As with all historian looking buildings, it is difficult to “hide” a door closer.
However, with the Mikhail Chekhov Riga Russian Theater we recommended the GEZE Boxer door closer. It blends into the door frame, and you only see it a bit when the door is open,” tells Gvido Musperts, Sales Engineer, GEZE Latvia.
Usually, the Theatre presents 6-7 new productions on its big stage every season, carefully balancing authors and genres foran optimal diversity. Among the viewers, 42% are native Latvians, and since the Theatre provides surtitles in Latvian for the productions, this number is growing steadily.
Asuccess to be proud of
While walking with Sabine Beca around the company, meeting the employees and seeing the warehouse, one can definitely tellthatthe passion for thedetails of the building products is high.Approx. 30 years after the first import of500 door handles, the portfolio now combines all door and windowproducts which the architects and craftsmen could possibly desire.
“What I started up long ago has now become a market leader. Today, we are 22 people in the company. I have a close contact to all the employees and many of them have been with the company for more than 10 years. Some even from the early start. It makes me proud that the employees want to stay, and help me continue the high level of customer service in the Latvian market,” Sabine concludes.
By Malene Pedersen, GEZE Scandinavia, July 2023