An independent builders merchant has opened a new outlet with up to half of the site dedicated to timber.
Buttle’s in Leighton Buzzard is the company’s third outlet and is a £1m investment in expanding the business, said owner Peter Buttle.
He chose the town because it has only one national competitor and no independents, and is sited on an industrial estate beside a through road.
It is a 1.2-acre site in Grovebury Road, with 15,000ft2 and eight employees. There is a small mill on a non-production scale for panel cutting and timber sawing to meet customer needs.
Mr Buttle said: “We have a higher mix of timber because we began as timber merchants and continued as boards and joinery only until the mid or late 1980s.”
The company already had outlets in Kentish Town and St Albans where timber represented about half the business.
Mr Buttle purchased the business from his family in 2000 and was joined by former Jewson executive Phil Norton as operations director.
Mr Buttle said the company was committed to growth and the new branch would be followed by others.
He said: “The decision was made two years ago. We had to sell or do something, so I bought the business and after that it had to be about growth. This will be the first of others.
“If you can buy up extra business on day one like the nationals, that’s OK, but we and other independents have to fight for it.”
