I am now approaching my 40th year in the interiors industry and I have many fond memories of places I have worked, people I have worked with and those that have inspired me.
One of the most memorable periods in my career was back in 1976/1977 when I joined a local furniture retailer named Dodimead. It had been a traditional family run business for many years and an established business in my hometown.
The manager was a wonderful man named Arthur Mitchell, and my one year working with him was the best time ever during my working career. I did something then that you would never consider today, and that was to take a 60% wage cut to join the business, but, through the education I received from Mr Mitchell (which was what you had to call him) it has been invaluable throughout my working life.
Under Mr Mitchell's guidance I learned all about 'real' furniture like handmade cabinets, upholstery, the elements that made a good bed and the difference between a good carpet and a cheap imitation.
This is also where I learned the values of a well presented showroom. It doesn't start from the time the customer walks in the door, it is from the time they see your shop for the first time. First impressions, no different to my role now. My appearance when I visit a customer is very important, it's me as a person they see first before anything else.
Every morning (and I mean every morning) my job was to collect the litter and sweep the pavement in front of the shop. Once a week I had to clean the windows and remove any weeds that dared to appear within our space!
Now we are in the shop and it was spotless! Carpets vacuumed at least once a week, and in the Autumn as and when required with leaves and dirt coming in through the main door. Display had to be clean, free of dust (inside and out), and this included the tops of cabinets that I could barely reach. One of Mr Mitchells favourite pastimes was to run his fingers across the tops of the cabinets and wardrobes checking for dust as he walked through the shop!
The window displays were as Mr Mitchell would say "are the showcase to our business". Every 3 months the walls and fabrics would be changed to represent a new season. Every 2 weeks we would have to change the furniture. This meant either replacing the upholstery, changing the cabinets or even something as small as swapping over the occasional tables and pictures.
The price always went on the correct ticket, even for sale items. In Mr Mitchells eyes, a crossed out and re-written price ticket was a sign of laziness and desperation to sell the item. price tickets had to be correctly positioned, sample books tidied away and no loose cottons or labels showing that shouldn't be.
Although the business was mid to top end quality, Mr Mitchell adopted a clever method of display to attract all types of customers into our shop, and this is a method still used today by some of the multi nationals.
The front of the store consisted mainly of the keener priced furniture and accessories with a small mix of the mid priced products. From the outside looking in we seemed like a keenly priced furniture shop. As the customer walked through the store the prices of the furniture and upholstery would gradually increase in price until you had the most expensive at the back. You had effectively drawn the customer into the whole of the shop. And can you guess which products we sold the most of? Yes, the most expensive goods at the back of the shop were our best selling lines, regularly!
I enjoyed over 20 years in retail, and when I had my own Bed business in partnership with my brother, I adopted the same principles that I had been taught by Mr Mitchell, and they never let us down.
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