The Ability Shop: Why the future is blooming

A garden centre location ensures plenty of foot traffic keeps flowing into James Thorpe’s familyrun mobility showroom in Lincolnshire…

As a wheelchair user, James Thorpe, Director of Lincolnshire-based retailer The Ability Shop, is acutely aware of the needs of people living with a disability.

James was a firefighter until an accident on holiday seven years ago, which resulted in a spinal cord injury that left him paralysed from the chest down.

As James considered a new career following his accident, he came up with the idea of setting up an accessible bathing company. It was his vision that everyone should be able to have access to as much independence as possible and be able to view the options available before making purchases that could otherwise not be suitable.

With the support of his partner Izzy and parents Shelagh and Rob, James opened the The Ability Shop showroom at The Waterside Garden Centre in Baston near Peterborough in October 2019.

“When I first started out, I never envisaged the business growing at the rate it has,” James says. “I do think that the fact I am a wheelchair user myself means that customers know I can truly empathise with them and understand the challenges they face on a daily basis.”

As well as looking after the accounts Shelagh works in the shop alongside Sales Manager Izzy, and James. Rob is in charge of installing the accessible bathrooms.

James adds: “A lot of the repairs and servicing are done by myself with the help of Izzy. My dad will often do the collection and delivery of products when required. I would like to offload some of this at some point by employing an engineer but that will come in time.”

The showroom offers a range of mobility aids, walking aids, mobility scooters, adaptable Cosyfeet footwear, as well as accessible bathing solutions for people with mobility issues or anyone wanting to upgrade their bathroom.

Customers can arrange for a member of The Ability Shop to carry out a survey and provide them with an estimated quote.

Garden Centre Location

The location of the showroom inside the Waterside Garden Centre, near Bourne, works perfectly for the business. James explains that they initially searched a few areas before finding the premises.

“We were initially only looking for a space to showcase our accessible bathrooms but trying to find a space that we could do that while having good footfall began to seem impossible until we found an empty unit within Waterside Garden Centre,” he states.

“The space was much larger than we actually needed – this was how the idea of having a mobility shop alongside the bathrooms came about.”

When it came to getting the showroom ready a priority for James was to make sure that they created suitable access as the small, ramped access into the unit was too steep. The rest of the refurbishment involved mainly tidying up some of the cosmetic issues, says James, such as the ceiling tiles, creating a counter and office area and painting the walls, to refresh the look of the whole place.

The garden centre location means that customers have the luxury of great parking facilities, toilets, and a nice restaurant at their disposal, as well as all the other things a garden centre offers, James explains.

While the showroom naturally attracts an elderly demographic, James has noticed that they are beginning to see an increasing number of younger people with varying disabilities coming into the store. “I think this is down to the products we are now stocking like custom wheelchairs and the power add-ons, as well as the social media marketing that we do,” he adds.

Mobility Product Specialist

The Ability Shop stocks a wide range of products from different brands. One brand which does particularly well for it is Rehasense. James is also a Rehasense customer, as he uses an Icon 60 manual wheelchair every day.

“I have had various wheelchairs over the years and the Icon 60 is great. I love the fact that you can adjust the chair as your needs change, and it is also extremely comfortable and lightweight,” continued James.

The Icon 60 manual wheelchair features a rigid 7000 Series aluminium alloy frame and carbon fibre side. Its frame length and seat angle and height are adjustable to suit the user’s individual needs, and, for maximum comfort, the backrest can be adjusted forward or backwards. It comes with a maximum user capacity of 120kg and a choice of four colour finishes and several wheel, tyre and push rim options.

Retailer Spotlight

The Ability Shop stocks most of the Rehasense portfolio, including manual wheelchairs, rollators, PAWS and Track Wheel. “All the Rehasense products are popular with our customer base, especially the Space LX rollator which we sell on a daily basis. As a mobility retailer, it is vital to have suppliers you can count on and that is certainly the case with Rehasense.

“Our main point of contact is Phil Needham, who is always on hand to answer any queries and keep us up-todate on any product developments. This support is backed up by the team at Rehasense HQ who are always available and ensure we receive prompt delivery of orders,” James adds.

The Ability Shop also really enjoys working with Motion Healthcare. Says James: “Their products, customer relationship and support are second to none.”

While The Ability Shop offers a wide selection of mobility products it still sees itself as a specialist in accessible bathing.

James comments: “Our most popular accessible bathing products tend to be the AKW wet room shower formers along with their Bama wallfixed folding shower seat.

“Another popular product is the Lakes Seated shower tray system, which is a moulded seat within the low-level shower tray. This is perfect for anyone not wanting a wet room but do need to be seated whilst showering.”

Embracing Online

A lot of customers find The Ability Shop through its website. James explains: “Our website is our shop window if you like; it lets people know where we are and what we do as well as getting our story across that we are a family-run business who know what it’s like to live with a disability and the struggles that people often face.”

While the website offers a good introduction to the showroom James doesn’t think that e-commerce is something that mobility retailers need to embrace, especially if they are offering an excellent service from their bricks and mortar showroom.

“The personal service that a store offers means your customer gets the right product for their needs, builds a good customer relationship and gives people confidence when buying as they know they have a place to go back to if something goes wrong,” explains James.

“In turn for the retailer it means less complaints/returns but also more returning customers.”

Rising Costs

One of the main challenges affecting a lot of people at the moment is the cost-of-living crisis and the rising cost of goods, which has a knock-on effect on retailers. Navigating this isn’t easy for retailers, comments James.

“The cost of products is increasing, which can’t be helped, but then many customers don’t have the spare funds they used to have for more expensive products. If this trend continues, along with ever increasing bills, it could be a tough time ahead,” says James.

He continues: “The only saving factor is that many people do need the products and services the mobility sector offer, it’s just a case of whether the industry can keep many of the products within an affordable range for the majority of customers without compromising on the quality.”

Looking to the future, James says that he would like to be able to expand into a larger unit within the garden centre where his customers can still find them but which would enable them to show more products than they currently can.

James says that he really wants to expand his range of custom wheelchairs. “Being a wheelchair user myself I know how important it is to have a good choice of quality chairs when looking for a new one or your first one.” www.theabilityshop.co.uk