Thought Leader in Retail Display
Best of a Bad Bunch
I went to a tough school but worked hard to get some reasonable qualifications. In those days no one went to university from my school. However, I was proud to be one of only two people to be accepted onto a Rolls-Royce Engineering Apprenticeship. I trained as a toolmaker and graduated from George Stevensons College in 1979. It was four years of hard work but well worth it, particularly as we got the chance to work on some classic aircraft including a Spitfire Merlin engine.
Aerospace and Aikido
After completing my training with RR, I soon realised that manufacturing in the UK was on the wane and so I moved to a role as a Technical Buyer responsible for purchasing parts for Helicopter engines. It was during this time that I travelled to Japan for 6 weeks to follow my studies in Aikido. Whilst there, I trained with the Tokyo riot police and passed my third dan graduation. On my return, I made the decision to improve my commercial qualifications by undertaking a BA in Business and Finance.
Space Ships and Wedding Bells
Having married my lovely wife Elaine in 1985, I was committed to take my career to another level. So, I joined British Aerospace in the role of Supplies Manager for the Orion communications satellite project. The company was full of highly educated and very talented people so I went back to college again and undertook post graduate courses in Purchasing and Marketing. It was Marketing which really grabbed my attention and once qualified, I moved into a role handling project management and sourcing for the company's training and marketing functions. I also ran my first marathon in 1988, 3hrs 34mins was pretty good but I decided then to stick to half marathons.
Hello to Retail and Changing Nappies
Our first child, Benjamin was born in 1992 which was the same year that I left BAe to join DisplayPlan in the role of Production Manager. Now that was a real baptism of fire as my only experience of retail interiors was from trudging around clothes shops with my wife. So, another tough period, but having helped myself climb the learning curve by attending various industry related courses, including print buying and CSCS, I was soon made a Director of the company. This also entailed taking on a wider role to include project management, logistics and quality control.
American Takeover and Another Baby
We had our beautiful daughter, Jessica in 1995 and just when life seemed to be settling down, I began a new adventure with DisplayPlan's expansion into the American market. We had been working with Masterack for Pepsi-Cola, when the owners of Masterack, Leggett & Platt Inc. expressed an interest to acquire DisplayPlan. By this time, I was a joint owner of DisplayPlan and although I was initially against selling the company I soon realised that this would ultimately provide me with many new opportunities, which it did.
A Million Airmiles and GDP is Born
My only regret from this chapter was that I missed a lot of my kid's early years. Legget & Platt obviously saw some potential in me as they made me Senior Vice President of Global Supply in 2004. This involved me in their global expansion strategy, in support of some L&P's key international client relationships. It was during this phase that I was introduced to the world of Visual Merchandising for the likes of Kohls, JC Penney and Forever 21. I set up Global Display Projects in 2006 as a new branch within L&P's Store Fixture and Display Group, with the mission of decoupling Creative Design from Supply and thereby capitalising on many retailers desire to minimise costs and benchmark these key elements.
GFC and Time for GDP to Move on.
The Global Financial Crisis in 2008 marked a change in L&P's appetite for Retail as a growth sector. From its heyday as a $1bn enterprise, the Fixture and Display Group was in the process of a major down-sizing exercise and this was when I saw the opportunity to make GDP independent and get away from the corporate politics. So, I acquired the rights to GDP. It was a tough start, as apart from the global economic challenges, I was restricted from approaching the clients I had brought into the branch. However, we grew fast and were soon working with clients in the US, UK and South Africa.
Racing Cars and Dragons Den
By 2012 we had reached £10m sales, with offices in the UK, South Africa, Australia, Turkey and China. We also added studio workshops for prototyping and mannequin renovations in London and Cape Town. Why on earth I decided to build and race a Caterham, I will never know. But I did and as hard as it was to fit this in around a growing business and growing family, I did it and I loved every minute of it; even when I crashed, which I did frequently. I even found the time to appear on Dragons Den with our newly developed eco-friendly mannequin. You won't believe me, but we really did not do it to get a Dragon on board. The promotion we got from this resulted in a massive uptake of our patented eco-mannequin range.
Hello to RDI but Tough Times Ahead
The continued volatility of Retail made it increasingly difficult to maintain our sales growth. So, we made the decision to diversify into Contract Furniture for the Retailers and Hospitality sectors with Retail Display & Interiors. Initial signs were promising, we had some good factories and had developed our own range of eco-furniture. However, it was actually harder to break into an already very saturated market. It was during this period that two of our retail branches suffered two major blows from clients that defaulted on some very large payments.
The debt amounted to over £1.2m and as they had both gone into administration, we were unlikely to get our money back. This gave me no choice but to close down GDP UK and our London Studio. Then in early 2020, the UK was hit by the Global Covid Pandemic which had a devastating impact on the Hospitality sector. Sadly, we had to close down RDi in 2022. The one good thing to come out of this very dark period was that I became a Grandfather to my sons new baby girl, Rosie.
New Beginnings
Who would have believed that some good would come from the Lockdowns? For the Global team it forced us to work differently, particularly for our remote businesses. Our SA branch had come through the difficult times and had become one of the top three mannequin houses in South Africa. At the same time, I had been working on a consulting concept through Global Retail Associates.
GRA has since established some interesting clients both from the Retail sector and trade partners that supply those retailers. We provide a range of services from Value Engineering to Global Sourcing and full Project Management. The other thing I did was to launch a new mannequin brand in the UK under the Railston Mannequins banner. As a long-term trade partner of GRA, Railston were keen to break into the mannequin business and so my team exclusively provide the creative input and manage the supply to Railstons' European client base. I also became a Grandfather for the second time with the arrival of Charlie in 2023.
Well apart from wanting loads more grand kids and moving onto my next petrol-head project (I already have a 1977 Beetle Convertible and two Classic Motorcycles), I'm not really focusing on retiring just yet. I have a really good management team, who I know are keen to take over the business one day. But for now, Im enjoying this rejuvenated business too much. Of course, it's not always plane sailing but I feel we have come a long way and my contribution is valued by my co-team members and our clients. When the day comes that I don't feel this way I will happily hand over the reins!