The Garden Furniture Centre Ltd - we provide a variety of unique products to accommodate any outdoor area

The Garden Furniture Centre Ltd – we provide a variety of unique products to accommodate any outdoor area

At the Garden Furniture Centre Ltd, we provide a variety of unique products to accommodate any outdoor area, both domestically and commercially. From our exclusive rattan furniture ranges and luxury gazebos to grade A Indonesian teak, our company strives to create and supply high-quality garden furniture straight to your door! Our business is constantly growing with some of our furniture featuring in prime locations such as St James’s Palace, RHS Tatton Park, and even Buckingham Palace!

Business Strategies

Our company has a multitude of strategies and plans in place which we work towards to ensure the business is always optimised to the highest standard. We distinguish ourselves from other retailers primarily by selling exclusive products which you will not find anywhere else. For instance, our Fiji and Montana rattan furniture is Jon’s own design as he worked with the factory to create a unique range for the company. Both the Fiji and Montana range have become a signature staple piece in our catalogue and has most notably caught the eye of Richard Branson where our Fiji furniture resides on Necker Island!

What is more, we ensure that our showroom is always up to date with the latest products for customers to see in person! With a company like ours, it can be difficult to visualise how items may fit into an outdoor area, so our showroom allows customers to speak to our friendly staff and helps them to gauge an idea of what will work best in their space. By having a showroom, we do tend to have customers come in with a specific item in mind, however with our vast array of products on display they usually leave with something completely different!

Owner’s Story

Founded as a limited company in 1998, the Garden Furniture Centre Ltd was created by Jon Haimes who is a head-strong entrepreneur with a passion for following his exceptional intuition. At a very young age, Jon knew that his career lay within the purchasing and selling direction which would lead him to create an extremely successful multi-million-pound business. In the late 1990’s, Jon began buying and selling returned benches at a warehouse in Shropshire. He would build these benches and sell them on the roadside outside Yew Tree Farm in Wootton Wawen, where our showroom is now located!

The selling of these benches proved to be a great success and resulted in Jon finding a hardwood supplier to create his own range of benches. With this, Jon decided to use his natural knowledge and skills of buying and selling to create a company dedicated to supplying unique high-quality garden furniture. At his family farm in Wootton Wawen, he transformed the unused milking parlour into a kitted-out showroom to display his latest and greatest finds! This in turn began the extraordinary journey of creating the Garden Furniture Centre Ltd!

Challenges

Much like any domestic or commercial retailer, our company has had to overcome many challenges especially during the recent Covid pandemic and Brexit. The cost and fluctuation of containers, shipping and exchanges rates recently have been a constant battle when it comes to ordering new stock. However, these challenges allowed the company to pull together and tackle these issues head-on to find ways for everyone to adapt to the new norm. We ensured that all our stock was checked and replenished where required, as well as using our state-of-the-art website to monitor consumer activity and how we can optimise sales.

Opportunities

With the number of years, the company has been active, this has allowed us to generate several opportunities for both the business and staff. As mentioned previously, the company began to take shape during the late 1990’s/early 2000’s which is around the time the internet started. We had a very strong start by having an optimised website to showcase our products which customers could view in their own home! At the time, this was a great way to spread the word and introduce our company into the modern era and to be discovered by customers across the country or around the world! To this day, our website is one of the most important assets to the company to provide daily updated information about us and the products for all our online visitors.

The creation of the company has brought many exciting opportunities for Jon as he has been able to travel all around the world from Europe to Indonesia to find new factories, products, and ideas our company one of the most distinctive and rare garden furniture supplier in the UK! As the company grew, this created job opportunities for people in the local area either within the warehouse or at the showroom. This also allowed Jon to entrust more responsibilities into his staff, and even resulted in employees being able to assist him on business trips abroad! The Garden Furniture Centre is a company which thrives to provide opportunities for everyone who joins.

Furthermore, we have the privilege to attend and exhibit yearly shows such as RHS Tatton Park, Hampton Court, Badminton, and Grand Designs to name a few. These shows allow us to display our latest and greatest products for visitors across the country and to meet new retailers and traders along the way! To exhibit at the shows is an incredible honour which we take pride in planning and promoting as much as possible before it begins.

Advice

Whether you are starting out on your own or thinking about expanding your business, there is one piece of advice that resonates within the GFC ethos; follow your dreams and never give up. There are times where you may find your back is against the wall and you cannot find a way out, but if you keep the passion you had at the start of your journey then you will definitely succeed.

Every business does not have it plain sailing and has probably faced many challenges along the way to their success. Fundamentally, overcoming obstacles and facing the unknown is what gives a company character and personality. But do not be deceived; starting a business is a huge commitment and something that should be planned with great care. With Jon’s experience, our company grew through the most influential 20 years, and it came with an array of challenges. Without these challenges, the company would not be as half as successful as it is today and has allowed us to constantly grow and improve. There is always hard work involved when running or creating a business and it should not be taken lightly. Be prepared to venture into unfamiliar areas where you are pushed out of your comfort zone because this is how you will grow as a business owner as well as learning more about yourself!

Lessons Learnt

Running a business during the early 2000’s was a great challenge as Jon had to keep the company up to date with the everchanging modern society. This was significantly highlighted with the new sensation of the internet and social media, as well as the company having to keep up with customer demand. With this, it became evident that the business had to conform with the modern way of communicating which is where we decided to launch our social media platforms and began work to upgrade the website. Today, our social media presence is extremely popular, and our website is continuing to grow and thrive each day!

As well as keeping up with modern-day demands, Jon and his staff continuously understanding and working on how to make the business more successful with stock control and staff management. With the company being active for a numerous amount of time, it has allowed us to make the necessary changes for everyone working in the business to be happy and satisfied to ensure it is a safe and harmonious working environment. There are many lessons which we have had to face, but fundamentally these lessons have strengthened the success of the company and shaped the way we as a business wish to venture forward into the future.

Conclusion

Ultimately, the Garden Furniture Centre Ltd is a business that has been built with integrity and passion by our owner Jon Haimes. Starting out as a small business venture rebuilding and selling returned benches, this began to scale into something extremely successful and life changing for Jon’s future. This business not only became a prospect for Jon, but also generated jobs and opportunities for potential employees. However, with every successful business comes the daily challenges that we have to face to ensure we are always keeping up with consumer demands. With the everchanging modern world starting to take shape in the late 1990’s/ early 2000’s it meant that the company had to adapt to coincide with the times. This allowed the business to modify into the modern era, whilst keeping our authenticity and personality. Today, we sell to traders and retailers all over the world, as well as providing excellent customer service across the country and around the world! With Jon’s persistence and determination, his dream has now become a welcomed reality.

E: [email protected]

W: www.gardenfurniturecentre.co.uk

Barbara Santini

Barbara is a freelance writer and a sex and relationships adviser at Dimepiece LA and Peaches and Screams. Barbara is involved in various educational initiatives aimed at making sex advice more accessible to everyone and breaking stigmas around sex across various cultural communities. In her spare time, Barbara enjoys trawling through vintage markets in Brick Lane, exploring new places, painting and reading.

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