Carl Gee owner of Panache blinds on Wellington road in the centre of Ashton-under-lyne explains to "Your Tameside" why it's it pays to support local, small businesses.
Carl explains that when a big name opens a superstore in your area it can be very tempting to make that your first stop shop. After all, there is aisle after aisle of lovely products to choose from, and the price is bound to be the cheapest, right? possibly, but not necessarily. Those mountains of bargain priced goods might well be cheap because they are the manufacturer’s discontinued lines, sold off in bulk. If you go back later for matching products you could well discover they are not available.
Carl goes onto say "as a blinds and curtains business, I am talking primarily about the soft furnishings industry here, but it is a principle that could easily be applied across many other retail sectors. If you shop local, with small, family run businesses, your money stays within the local economy. Where do you think we spend the money we make? And if you were to visit the Panache Blinds showroom, in Ashton town centre, you would discover that we can rival the range of fabrics offered by any of the big chains. We work with the same manufacturers who supply Debenhams and John Lewis, as well as Dunelm, Wilkinsons and The Range"
"We also take the time to root out fabrics from smaller manufacturers, designs that you won’t find in chain store. The beauty of the made to measure blinds and curtains industry is that you don’t need a massive shop floor to display all your products." .
There is probably one reason above all others, to shop with a local small business, customer service. Large chains just can’t offer the same level of customer service that a family business can. How many times have we all grumbled at having to wait in all day for deliveries? Or tried to deal with a faceless customer services department on the end of the phone, probably in another continent.
Panache Blinds have undergone constant changes, upgrades and improvements since they moved to their new showrooms on Wellington Road just over two years ago they have also recently won a number of new contracts including become suppliers to the NHS. Carl is very excited about the future with all the big changes happening in Ashton. Carl said "when everything is complete we will look out on a vibrant and modern town centre"
