Holloways breaks out of south-east

from Interiors Monthly April 2022

Beds and bedroom

IMAGE: JIM HOLLAND

The new store on Bath’s Milsom Street

Furniture and lighting chain Holloways of Ludlow has opened its fifth store, its first outside London and the south-east of England.

The retailer has opened in a former bank on Bath’s Milsom Street, covering more than 4,000sqft.

A store in Winchester is also expected to open this spring.

The company is also planning to relaunch its website shortly. The revamped website – designed to deliver an enhanced shopping experience – will feature an online shop for consumers and a new dedicated platform with improved tools and functionality for interior designers, design studios, architects and specifiers.

‘Our digital platform has been an important part of our business for almost 20 years. We continue to invest in it significantly, including our soon-to-berelaunched website. However, we believe hugely in showrooms and know that our customers still want to touch and feel our products and interact with our team of experts in person,’ says Mark Holloway, Holloways of Ludlow ceo.

‘One thing we’ve increasingly noticed among customers is the desire to shop locally. Most of the UK has been underserved with high-end design furniture; our approach is about bringing great design closer to home. With our Bath store opening, we see the opportunity to connect with a growing customer base in the area and around Bristol, the south-west and the Cotswolds. Ultimately, we want to offer our customers multiple touchpoints and make it easier for them to shop with us – whenever and wherever they want.’

Heal’s: closing, opening, opening

Heal’s is to close its Brighton store as it prepares to expand its department store tie-up.

The seven-store chain is to close the five-storey branch, which opened in 2007, after the landlord did not renew the lease. It will close this month.

Meanwhile the chain is expanding its cooperation with department store chain Fenwick. Concessions are scheduled to open in the chain’s Canterbury and York branches. Last August it opened a space within Fenwick’s Newcastle store.

Heal’s is recruiting for five positions at the new concessions.

TFC assets sold

The assets and intellectual property of The Foam Company have been sold, ending its hopes of continuing to trade.

Mattress and foam producer GNG completed the deal after TFC went into administration when Mammoth moved production to Airsprung Beds.

GNG intends to move TFC’s manufacturing equipment to its West Yorkshire factories and says the Sleepshaper and Sonlevo brands ‘are a good fit’.

TFC had anticipated a pre-pack administration sale that would have allowed it to continue trading.

‘It is extremely sad to see the demise of such a long-established, successful family business. Unfortunately, after the loss of the licence for its major brand, the business was no longer viable as a going concern. We hope to reach out and try to work with some of The Foam Company team in the future,’ says Darren Potterton, GNG Group md.

‘We will be integrating the assets within our operations: The Foam Company’s brands are a good fit with our existing range, and the machinery will be relocated to the West Yorkshire manufacturing facilities of our expanding mattress division, supporting our ambitions as we continue to build the business.’

£10m turnaround for Sofa.com

Upholstery retailer Sofa.com saw an almost £10m turnaround in its fortunes in the past year.

A pre-tax loss of £4.19m in the 14 months to 30 April 2020 became a profit of £5.74m in the year to 30 April 2021.

Sales rose by £2.2m to £35.5m.

During the year it received £910,000 in furlough support. Cash rose from £462,556 to £5.86m.

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