A timber merchant established at the beginning of the credit crunch has exceeded its targets in the first four months of trading.
Timberstore (East) Ltd was set up by Raife Clarke in July last year and, despite the current economic turmoil, has just published its first-year results – 100% ahead of target.
It hasn’t all been plain sailing for the Hockley-based business, which struggled for a year to find premises large enough or in the right position for its stockholding.
In December last year, an opportunity to move into a 60,000ft² site – vacated by the defunct furniture chain MFI – arose, and Mr Clarke jumped at the chance.
“We contacted known suppliers and most were extremely keen to take the plunge and support us,” said Mr Clarke, although he was refused credit by a number of bigger companies.
According to Mr Clarke, the business is now “flying”. “We have had huge support from many timber trade suppliers that took the gamble,” he said. “We have now produced our first-year accounts in a very difficult period and are on budget and extremely happy.”
Mr Clarke also told TTJ that the business was currently in negotiation for another outlet. “We are looking to take the Timberstore brand to a much higher level,” he said.
