Welcome to a very special bonus episode of the kbbreview Podcast, your host as always is Andy Davies, and today we're looking at one of the areas of kitchen design that doesn't get the recognition it deserves, and that's the panel finishes that make up the furniture.

When you actually think about it there's hundreds of colours, textures, grains and patterns all following, and often setting, the trends before they ever get near being made into furniture - and manufacturers are doing so at a speed that is mind boggling.

It's such an important part of the design journey that it definitely needs more attention so Andy is talking to Lauren Barker, the head of marketing and design for Lawcris.

Lawcris leads the field in wood based panel products, laminates and edgings with big brands such as Emporio Skin, Kronospan and many more. With over 40 vehicles in their fleet, they can provide next day delivery on all stocked products. You can find out all about them at lawcris.co.uk

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Welcome to The kbbreview Podcast, your host as always is Andy Davies and this week it's Part Two of our How to be a Successful Retailer two-parter.

Andy has been catching up with winners from this year's kbbreview Retail & Design Awards to pick their brains about running successful and award-winning businesses.

Last week was a fascinating conversation between our Special Achievement Award recipient Paul Rowland from CP Hart and our Rising Star of the Year winner Angelika Kotarska from Angelic Bathrooms in Northampton - highly recommend going back to that one if you haven't heard it.

This week, well this is another great one, as we get to hear from our two Retailers Of The Year - Darren Walker from Laings in Inverurie, our Kitchen Retailer of the Year 2024 and Steph Warner from Pier1 Bathrooms in Hove - our Bathroom Retailer of the Year 2024.

These are two very successful and dynamic businesses with two completely different back stories - Laings first opened its doors in 1862, Pier1 in 2019. The Pier1 showroom is about 1,500sqft and Laings is more like 13,500sqft.

Laings employs about 90 people, Pier1….5

And, of course, they're about as far from each other geographically as it's possible to get while still being in the UK.

So two very different businesses, with two very different perspectives on what it takes to be the Retailer of the Year.

Today's episode is brought to you with the support of our very good friends at Lawcris. They lead the field in wood based panel products, laminates and edgings with big brands such as Emporio Skin, Kronospan and many more. With over 40 vehicles in their fleet, they can provide next day delivery on all stocked products. You can find out all about them at lawcris.co.uk

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This is Part One of a two-parter that will conclude next week where we talk to winners from the kbbreview Retail & Design Awards 2024 to get under their skin, hear their stories and see what makes their businesses successful.

Next week, we'll be meeting our Kitchen Retailer of the Year - Laings in Inverurie - and our Bathroom Retailer of the Year - Pier1 Bathroom in Hove. Two very different businesses with two very interesting perspectives on the market.

But to kick it off today we've got an interview that's so interesting, so insightful and actually just gives you a bit of a warm feeling inside.

As many of you will know, at our awards we give out our Special Achievement trophy. It goes to those individuals who have contributed something very special to their business and the industry as a whole and this year it went to… Paul Rowland from CP Hart.

CP Hart is, of course, the premium bathroom retailer that now has 15 showrooms and a £50m turnover. When Paul took it over 20 years ago it was really struggling and he has lead the team that has made it what it is today. He is the retailer's retailer.

At the opposite end of the career path, we also gave out the Rising Star of the Year trophy - this goes to individuals under the age of 30 who are making a real impact in their retail business and the 2024 winner was Angelika Kotarska who started her own bathroom retail business - Angelic Bathrooms in Northampton in 2022, aged just 22.

So, you can see where this is going can't you…we thought it would be a good idea to get them both together and see what lessons they can learn from each other and it's fascinating stuff.

Finding good people, managing through financial crises, the relationship with suppliers, finding customers, marketing - it's all in here and more besides from when Angelika and host Andy Davies went down to the flagship CP Hart showroom in Waterloo to see Paul.

Today's episode is brought to you with the support of our very good friends at Lawcris. They lead the field in wood based panel products, laminates and edgings with big brands such as Emporio Skin, Kronospan and many more. With over 40 vehicles in their fleet, they can provide next day delivery on all stocked products. You can find out all about them at lawcris.co.uk

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This week's episode is all about that staple fixture of showrooms and their relationship with the brands they sell - brochures.

• What do retailers and designers actually use them for?
• What do they say about the brand?
• Do suppliers assume they get given out to every potential customer who comes through the door?
• Are too many simply thrown away and wasted?
• Should they have prices in them or not?

Such simple things touch on so many different aspects of the day-to-day life of a retailer so we're talking it all through with retailers Paul Crow, the MD of Ripples, and Adam Wollerton from Bathroom + Kitchen Eleven in Surrey AND in the supplier's corner Sofia Charalambous from Origins Living.

It's fascinating stuff so let me know what you think, here's my email andrewdavies@taylistmedia.com

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Today we're looking at that tricky yet often desirable symbol of growth for an independent kbb retailer and that's …..the second showroom.

The vast majority of kbb independents operate out of one showroom, but many often seriously think about another. It's an obvious way to expand the business but there are plenty of cons to go with the long list of pros.

Finding the right location, spreading yourself too thin, finding people you trust to run it and starting to build a whole new customer base in a different area.

So we're going to talk it all through with a couple of top retailers and friends of the show - Mark Butler from Butler Interiors and Liz Pantling-Jones of Lima Kitchens. Mark took the plunge on a second showroom a few years ago and Liz is seriously considering that move right now.

Host Andy Davies met up with them a few weeks ago and this is a really interesting conversation that gets right to the heart of finding that showroom as well as weighing up all the pros and cons...

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Welcome to The kbbreview Podcast, your host is Andy Davies and this may be the last episode of Season 11 but we've got a couple of very interesting bits for you

First up we're talk about manifestos - we all know there's going to be a General Election this year so if you were running for Prime Minister, what would be in YOURS to help kbb businesses?

While we were at the KBB show we took the opportunity to ask this very simple question to some leading industry figures.

And then we go from Prime Minister to prime time TV. Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen made an appearance at the KBB show supporting Caple so kbbreview editor Rebecca Nottingham caught up with him to hear his views on kitchen and bathroom design. Warning, this next interview contains flamboyance...

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Welcome to The kbbreview Podcast, your host as always is Andy Davies and this week we're looking at the communication between suppliers and their retailers.

Since Covid there has been massive shift in how this is done, the traditional rep-on-the-road model has morphed into a hybrid of some area sales managers and a lot more emails, portals, Zoom, Teams, webinars and the like.

From the suppliers point of view it's not hard to see why. Reps are expensive and can only cover so much, but technology allows direct communication and exchange of important updates and information easily.

For the retailers, however, they like face-to-face, it's their bread and butter after all, plus they have potentially dozens of suppliers and that means dozens of portals, emails, updates and Zoom calls to get through - and the onus is on them to do it.

So it's time consuming AND the volume of information coming this way means that they may miss important updates such as price changes or stock availability.

Andy caught up with a few key suppliers to ask them what they think. Is there still a role for the rep on the road, and how do you get important messages across when the inbox is so noisy…

But do retailers agree? We ask them too....

What do you think? Email Andy at andrewdavies@taylistmedia.com or find him on LinkedIn here

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Welcome to another bonus episode of The kbbreview Podcast, your host is Andy Davies and at the kbb show last week he caught up with Richard Sloan, the CEO of Sonas Bathrooms.

It was their time exhibiting at the show AND, of course, they were also our Podcast Partner for the 20204 kbbreview Retail & Design Awards.

So that's two greatest reasons to talk to Richard about the health of the market, the relationship between suppliers and retailers and how they're doing exhibiting for the first time.

If you want more info on Sonas Bathrooms then you can find out everything you need to know at sonasbathrooms.co.uk and we highly recommend checking out all the special 2024 awards podcast episodes here.

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