I posted this the other day but cannot see it, or replies (if any) so apologies if anyone has already seen it.
Anybody used
Cheers
John
No but the address is an old BP garage on Whiteladies Road, Bristol, just across from the Beeb. As an ex BBC Bristol employee I still have contacts there. Watch this space...
A quick look at the site and it's not an obvious clone of ScrewFix or MachineMart. There is no mention of a parent company in the T&C's just themselves registered on Whiteladies Road, not that means anything. A look through Companies House might reveal any links?
They have an Argos/Soviet/trade-distributor setup at that address - masses of coloured polyprop boxen on racking, with 2-3 people serving you by catalogue number (i.e. you quote the stocknums of the bits you want, they disappear between the racking and come back clutching the bits you want). When I saw them opening up - 6+ months back - I thought they were a national chain; only now do I find we're uniquely privileged in Bristle to be the Aitch Queue.
Registered, got the cat, haven't bought anything from them yet...
Stefek
I have an account with CH.
Toolstation appears to be owned by one Mark Goddard-Watts, who is the director and has an issued share capital of £1.3m. There is not a great deal of information since the company was formed in 2002 and did its first filing as a small company.
Interestingly, Mr. Goddard-Watts appears to a director of several companies including Aromatic Duck Ltd (now Bargain Bobs), and Screwfix..... Several other people with the surname Goddard-Watts are associated with B&Q and Kingfisher businesses, and AIUI Jon Goddard-Watts was the original founder of Screwfix.
.andy
To email, substitute .nospam with .gl
Ah so it's not a true independant then, looks like Kingfisher quietly probing the market or starting to do a DSG. ie have lots of shops/outlets apparently in competition with each other but are in fact are all one company.
My contact has got back to me, it's not the garage I thought it was (going by the piccies on the web site) but the one that was near the traffic lights for Tyndalls Park Road. Not a great report about the shop, it's not very big so can't really hold that much stock.
Possibly, although the record shows the shareholder as Mr Goddard-Watts and not as one of the Kingfisher companies, whereas Bargain Bobs (nee Aromatic Duck) is shown as ultimately part of the Kingfisher empire.
The short form balance sheet as at the end of July showed stocks of just under £350k, which is not a lot for an operation of this type, or perhaps they hadn't started trading to any extent then. There was £900k in the bank at that point.
.andy
To email, substitute .nospam with .gl
No, but I've been there in person.
It's an old filling station, on a site that must be some of the most expensive real estate in Bristol. It surprised me when they opened it, but it seems that they've been able to open it on top of the old fuel tanks, when any other use would have needed them ripping out first. The cost of developing the site would be staggering.
I think their main trade is probably replacement batteries for DeWalts. Every time I've been in there, the clientele has been the same as myself - office fitters working locally who need a box of cable clips or a new drill battery in a hurry.
Prices weren't bad, so they're not trying to gouge just based on convenience.
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