Sorry to see the Focus DIY chain is set to go into administration, although surprised that it didnt happen sooner. They have been struggling for some time now.
Popped into my local one last week for a couple of bits to fit the new diswasher - store well stocked, a few staff about, 1 till open and.........me. The other local one has just been sold to ASDA to be turned into a new store.
My thoughts go to the 4000 staff at risk
|
|
They're far too expensive, IMO. My local one's usually deserted too. Shame.
|
I didn't even know they were still going. I remember the closing down sale they had at the old Airdrie branch a year or 2 back, just assumed they were all going at that point.
|
|
The nearest Focus store in my area closed about 10 years ago. A shame really, as I was usually able to find what I wanted there and much preferred it to B & Q.
|
|
One near us, handy for the odd item where if it is more expensive it doesn't really matter. Shame if it's going, and of course terrible for the staff.
|
I remember the one opposite where i worked in Sittingbourne opening in the early 80's as Marley Homecare then the name changed to Payless DIY followed by Do It All and finally Focus. It used to be busy untill Homebase opened about 1/2 a mile away and that took away most of their trade. I believe that it is still open though - or it was !
|
Apparently they are the third largest DIY chain.
Last few times I popped in they had a good choice and well priced - no more than b&q, but always quiet.
A lot of their stores are in odd places to - my nearest is on an industrial estate - the only other retail type outfit near it is a screwfix counter.
I think b&q and homebase have moved into more of the out of town type outlets where focus have stayed in teh older locations on the edges of towns
|
This is about the third time in the last 10 years they have either collapsed or near to collapse.
My local one is useless, nill stock, no staff, gave up using them several years back. I drive past the place to get to a Homebase.
Thank god Wickes managed to escape the Focus group.
Last edited by: Zero on Wed 4 May 11 at 20:33
|
>>This is about the third time in the last 10 years they have either collapsed or near to collapse.
You're probably right there. When the one I mentioned above closed, I was under the impression that the whole firm had folded.
|
|
The nearest one to me, about seven miles away, closed around four or five years ago.
|
>> Thank god Wickes managed to escape the Focus group.
Well I hope they are ok - a few thousand quids worth of new Wickes kitchen arrived yesterday, not going to be fitted for a few weeks, bound to be problems that need sorting out...
|
>>..bound to be problems that need sorting out...>>>
Are those the parts without their name on it?
|
|
Doubt it. I have fitted two Wickes kitchens. The second one was short shipped but they told it me it was, and the bits arrived by courier three days later. Nothing but praise for Wickes and Kitchens.
|
>> Doubt it.
Good to hear, thanks. The man ticked everything off electronically on his wireless gizmo which scanned the bar codes (and also took a picture with it at the end) so it looks promising so far.
Last edited by: Focus on Wed 4 May 11 at 20:46
|
We had a quote from Wickes for our new kitchen. It was a grand more than the other quote we had from an indy. Wickes didn't include the little dishwasher and all the electrical work we wanted, including under cupboard lighting, which t'other quote did.
Wickes planning service was good, but their price wasn't.
|
What quality carcasses are you getting with your cheap one tho? With kitchens you need to buy in the January Christmas sales.
I did my kitchen for about 2.6k all in, including worktops, lighting, tiles (floor and wall) sink, taps, cooker, hood, dishwasher,
Mind I did all the work myself, Plumbing, gas, sparks, tiling, fitting. I got the worktop mitres cut off site tho.
|
|
Interestingly enough, well, not that fascinating but anyway, I was thinking I needed, well, wanted at least, a large shed with a balcony. They rather grandly call them cabins but they are just sheds with an extended roofline and some decking. Anyway, the one I wanted was £1300ish at the large orange chain. I've had a builder in doing some stuff to the house this past couple of weeks and in the passing I mentioned my posh shed ambition to him. He reckoned he could build me a bigger better one from scratch for far less. What's more it would just be there one day rather than be a pallet of bits defying me to assemble it. Tempted if only for the swing seat and spittoon option.
|
In-laws got one of those cabins. No idea on price but they hoped my step-son and his friend would put it together. Apart from the many many pieces I had to point out the first job was building the foundations (for want of a better description). So they got someone in, as they do and overpay for, to do it all.
Had they got it from a decent place then I bet it would have been cheaper. They don't call it a shed or cabin though. They try to be a bit posh about their shed.
|
|
I just want somewhere to tinker with my bikes or to sit on a porch with a cold one and one of my imitation ciggies perhaps more accurately.
|
...I just want somewhere to tinker with my bikes...
The risk, as with a conservatory, is it becomes a storage area/dumping ground for seldom used household items.
|
>> seldom used household items.
That'll be me then !
|
I thoroughly recommend the "pub in the garden" to pass time away from the house and crappy TV!!
Mines is made of concrete..... doesn't burn the same as wooden huts ! :)
|
...Tempted if only for the swing seat and spittoon option...
I can see the attraction.
My endearing mother has just had a summer house built in her garden.
It's a small, hexagonal shed - no deck.
To be fair to her, she calls it a shed.
Pleasant place to sit and read the paper.
It's got electricity to make it usable for an extra couple of months each year.
|
Nicole wanted a swing seat, and pointed to a pile of decking the neighbours wanted to get rid of.
A raised pergola sprung from the pile, and a Swing seat purchased and assembled on it. The adjacent grape vine was persuaded to travel shoots over the rafters of the pergola, and I have to say the result is, now, rather good.
Nicole now wants lighting effects.
|
www.johnlewis.com/231124973/Product.aspx
I laughed at this. I can see Humph in one of these with a JL spitoon and banjo.
|
|
Wished I'd known about those - Add a bit of class to the allotment
|
....I laughed at this...
Go on, admit it, you thought about getting one for your new country estate, didn't you?
|
I bought a small shed for the allotment from Homebase in January. I arranged delivery on what turned out to be about the coldest day of the year. Well below freezing all day. Couldn't get the delivery vehicle up the track because of the snow. Had to manhandle the panels up the steep path with the aid of a mate. We spent 4 hours erecting the thing and managed to finish just as snow began to fall heavily and we trudged off home through the blizzard. Was well pleased with my work despite it being something like One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich.
In March I got a letter from my parish council that my shed had blown over in a gale and was reduced to pieces.
|
|
Dig out the receipt? Bad luck.
|
>> Wickes planning service was good, but their price wasn't.
I think we ended up paying less than 50% of rrp due to discounts which made it cheaper than competitors. Anyway, it was the only one Mrs F liked so price wasn't really a factor :)
|
|
It is of course important to distinguish between administration and liquidation. They could still resurrect something from this position. Undoubtedly the patient is sick but may respond to treatment.
|
The patient has been on its death bed for some time. Its primary problem is the fact it has not had a good credit supply agreement for some time and has to pay for goods up front. The trade has know its been sick for years.
|
Aye, alas a common enough problem with large chain retailers now. getting wholesale credit insurance on large value orders is either excrutiatingly expensive or even impossible nowadays. Wholesalers traditionally work on short margins and rely on volume to drive their businesses. However, they can't get insurance on many large retailers so can't agree to supply them on credit terms.
The paradox emerging is that the smaller often independent retailers are often a better risk. Family businesses who tend to be more stable albeit much smaller. There is though a cost in shiftting towards that market sector. More small orders incur greater admin, shipping and sales costs but much of that can be recovered by not having to offer the crippling discounts the chains have typically demanded.
In some industries, the high street chains are simply not the bargain centres they once were due to restricted supply lines with the secondary sited indies enjoying something of a renaissance. The latest product ranges and often the keenest prices can now more readily be found in the "Mom and Pop" shops where until recently they were struggling to compete. The recession is a bit like an economic balloon. When it is squeezed at one point it can in turn expand at another.
There will be many more casualties to come. The shape of our shopping will change and evolve.
|
>>
>> Thank god Wickes managed to escape the Focus group.
>>
Hear, hear; it's good to have an alternative to the Homebase - B&Q duopoly on the rare occasions I don't use Toolstation.
|
>> >> Thank god Wickes managed to escape the Focus group.
>> >>
>> Hear, hear; it's good to have an alternative to the Homebase - B&Q duopoly on
>> the rare occasions I don't use Toolstation.
>>
IIRC my nearest Focus is in Weybridge but it never appears on my radar.
Having a Wickes and a Screwfix shop in Kingston is a bonus to me.
The B & Q on the A3 at New Malden is open late and good for browsing but products are often expensive as are Wickes. My local independant plumbers merchants are very helpful, and their bits are often inexpensive so they get my vote. ( I recently bought a 15mm service valve from them at half B & Q prices but it was so so superior)
|
|
I too am lucky to have a local plumbers merchant, with skilled brains to pick, a myriad of manufacturer catalogues and good ideas, and not really that much dearer than a shed but with known branded products. Miserable git behind the counter tho.
|
What does he think of you....
:-)
|
|
Pest probably, but I aint going away!
|
|
We're lucky down in Carmarthen, having a well-established local business (Towy Works) which supplies just about everything you could possibly want, although they're not particularly cheap, and also a good few builders and plumbers merchants; if one ain't got something another one will have it and without exception they're friendly and helpful.
|
Focus in Haverfordwest closed a couple of years ago though there is still one in Cardigan. I go in there a lot - though purely to kill time when I'm hanging about in the evening waiting for the last few customers to get home. Their range is poor, the staff know very little about the products and the last thing I did buy in there (flexible tap tails) I had to take back because one leaked.
It's very rare to see more than a handful of people in the store, which says it all as they are the only DiY shed in the area.
|
Towy Works is, or was old fashioned, but as you say a veritable Aladdin's cave
I remember it as not being that easy to park there, but that was over 10 years ago!
|
>> Towy Works is, or was old fashioned, but as you say a veritable Aladdin's cave
>> I remember it as not being that easy to park there, but that was over
>> 10 years ago!
>>
Much easier now, there's a small car park for customers, plus a council P&D by the new King Morgan (Welsh for "White Elephant") footbridge.
|
|
I tend to use local builder's merchant and a small independent plumbers merchant for most of my DIY needs. Tend to be a lot cheaper than the big sheds and much more helpful provided you throw yourself on their mercy and acknowledge their superior knowledge!
Last edited by: CGNorwich on Wed 4 May 11 at 22:21
|
Damn! There's one really near me. It's great for popping into when I need something as I tend to be driving passed it regularly.
I thought they'd been bought out by someone or other as a going concern?
|
|
Its been loading itself with debt since the late 90's buying "do it all", wickes, great mills. Never ever got rid of the shoulder of debt, including more added in a couple of leveraged buy outs.
|
Just had a quick google - appears that Cerberus bought them for a quid in 2007 and took on 180 million in debt. One article suggest that they have spent 200 million keeping it afloat, but as they are about to default on debt its time to call in the administrators.
|
This brought to mind memories of the chain that was to become Homebase.
Here is 21 seconds of some seriously sophisticated advertising from the time.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=70WrYreFgSE&feature=related
|
I'd forgotten about Texas already... remember going there in the late 70s to fill several trolleys after buying our first old house.
Things move on and this house has been modernised with the Wickes stamp on many things.
|
I saw Terry Scott open the branch of Texas in Plymouth. Top that for a celebrity story.
I also seem to recall John Shuttleworth asking Ken if he'd got his curtain from Texas or Do It All, as Texas was nearer, and Ken getting confused. Mind you, Ken thought there wasn't actually a Spa in Matlock Spa, but he was sure there was a Londis.
|
>> I also seem to recall John Shuttleworth
...aka Jilted John as mentioned in One Hit Wonders thread
|
|
Absolutely brilliant late night listening on R4 once upon a time...!
|
I hope then you regularly visit his website, and of course subscribe to Ken's Kandid Kommunique.
www.shuttleworths.co.uk/
|
>> Absolutely brilliant late night listening on R4 once upon a time...!
Used to crop up on Mark Radcliffe's Radio 1 show as well IIRC, very good, as was Harry Hill.
|
My dear departed father in law used to be on the variety stage in the forties and fifties .
He had quite a few old playbills and memorabilia from that time and I remember looking at one bill with him on from around 1950 where Terry Scott was down the bottom of the bill , just starting out .
F i L recalled Terry Scott was so useless that he was paid off on the Monday night.....
Top of the bill that night was Winifred Atwell IIRC.
I must hunt the old playbills out of the attic and have a look.
|
|
Just read, for my sins, Nicholas Parsons' autobiography, where he is ineffably pleasant about everyone. Except Terry Scott.
|
|
Terry Scott was always bottom of the bill as far as I was concerned.
|
...Terry Scott was always bottom of the bill as far as I was concerned...
There's a few Terrys on here, as in Terry and June.
|
|
By best friend calls me Yootha Joyce because of my fondness for older women.
|
>> A few Tonys as well.:-)
>>
Meaning?
|
>> Terry Scott was always bottom of the bill as far as I was concerned.
I liked him, not only in the Carry On Films, but Terry & June, and also as the voiceover for Penfold (Dangermouse's bumbling sidekick)
|
|
Terry and June surely marked the nadir of UK TV situation comedy. I don't think it ever recovered
|
Blackadder, Father Ted, Only Fools and Horses, Yes (Prime) Minister, One Foot in the Grave, Vicar of Dibley, Men Behaving Badly, Red Dwarf, The Royle Family, Just Good Friends, 2.4 Children, Ever Decreasing Circles, A Sharp Intake of Breath, all these (and more) post date Terry and June.
They are all excellent. And the variety is enormous.
|
|
Anyone remember The gnomes of Dulwich with Terry Scott from the end of the 60s... a very weird show.
|
I didn't remember it (but thanks for the jog, as it proved very interesting reading). However, it also led me to discover that Terry Scott co-starred in "Not Now Darling" with the wrestler Jackie Pallo, and that's as unlikely a match as I can imagine. Ding ding, grapple fans.
Did somebody say "thread drift"?
Last edited by: Crankcase on Thu 5 May 11 at 14:20
|
|
OK you are right and you have changed my mind (which you must admit is unusual on this forum). There were many good situation comedies post the truly awful Terry and June.
|
>> OK you are right and you have changed my mind (which you must admit is
>> unusual on this forum).
It certainly is.
But no harm in trying, eh. So, vote Yes 2 AV!! ;-)
|
...Already have actually!...
I thought most villages only had one idiot. :)
|
thought most villages only had one idiot. :)
At least I'm bright enough to understand how AV works.
|
...At least I'm bright enough to understand how AV works...
An understanding which I'm hoping will be of little practical value.
|
Your approach to this issue is spectacularly narrow minded, Iffy.
I don't understand, I don't want to understand, therefore I won't bother to understand. Therefore I say "No".
You shouldn't be allowed to vote with that attitude.
|
>> There were many good situation comedies post the truly awful Terry
>> and June.
>>
The only way is up...
Hey, was that in the one hit wonders chart? More cross threading.
|
>> The only way is up...
>>
>> Hey, was that in the one hit wonders chart? More cross threading.
Shouldn't have been: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yazz#Singles
Last edited by: Focus on Thu 5 May 11 at 14:46
|
>> >> The only way is up...
>> >>
>> >> Hey, was that in the one hit wonders chart? More cross threading.
>>
>> Shouldn't have been: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yazz#Singles
>>
Darn it, that was the only one I could remember.
|
>> >> Shouldn't have been: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yazz#Singles
>> >>
>> Darn it, that was the only one I could remember.
me too - some of the other titles ring some bells but I couldn't whistle them
Last edited by: Focus on Thu 5 May 11 at 14:50
|
Focus DIY entering Administration - Dave_
