Jobs go at blinds firm Hillarys

[rise man]

www.thisisnottingham.co.uk/homenews/Jobs-blinds-firm-Hillarys/article-600584-detail/article.html





UP to 25 jobs will go from made-to-measure blinds business Hillarys, which has been hit by the economic downturn.
The Nottingham-based company said that the jobs would go over the next four weeks from its Colwick headquarters and a base in Washington, Tyne & Wear.
Chief executive John Risman said the jobs would go from its centralised support functions, not its production plant or customer contact centre.
He said: "We're trading a little bit lower than last year at the moment and we're taking a cautious view about the next six to 12 months. We are making a small number of roles redundant.
"The broad economic environment is very tough for customers. The housing market has tumbled, with 50% fewer people moving home than 12 months ago, and discretionary high-ticket purchases are being pulled or put off and that has affected a broad range of markets."
But Mr Risman was confident about the future.
"It is a tough market. But we are very confident in our strategy and we have grown market share. We have invested in our new production facility at Glaisdale and we expected to see the benefits of that efficiency over the next 12 months."

[rise man]

Now this is funny, I don't know if its a good idea or a little desperate.






www.charismablindsayrshire.co.uk/fitting.php




LOCAL COMPETITORS - Ayrshire
It is impossible for the general public, using Newspapers, Yellow Pages, Thomsons, or even web-sites, to differentiate between window blind suppliers.

From advertisements in the media, the public cannot tell the difference between

FRESH LOOK BLINDS (possibly the smallest there is!)

and

HILLARY’S BLINDS (possibly the largest there is)

Both adverts can say the same thing, and can have very similar appearance.

Hopefully, this page will help clear up who’s who!

Allshades
Manufacturing factory/showroom in Kilmarnock. A sound, middle-of-the-road trustworthy local company.

Ayrshire Blinds
Manufacturing factory/showroom in Main St Dreghorn. A sound middle-of-the-road local company

Apollo Blinds
Under review.....

Blind Design
Two companies emerged virtually simultaneously in 2009, and, curiously, each decided to call itself “BLIND DESIGN”
Blind Design 1: operates from a shop in Ayr opposite Hourstons. No manufacturing capability. Buys in all the blinds he sells. Seems a decent chap.
Blind Design 2: works from a house-garage in Dundonald. The lady-proprietor worked for Sovereign Blinds for many years, left them in 2008,converted her garage to business premises, and called her business Blind Design. She may have realized the confusion this causes with the Ayr company, so she may have changed her business name to “Design Blind”!! Very good and clever adverts give the impression she is a major player. In fact she has exactly the same manufacturing capability as Florida Blinds. See below.

British Blinds
Commission sales agent for large manufacturer based in Hull.

Charisma Blinds
See the “ABOUT US” section. We have no showroom at present but we have a display stand featuring our blinds, and fabric pattern books, at the premises of
STODHEART CARPETS
1 Telford Place,
South Newmoor Industrial Estate,
Irvine.

Chris Craft
Commission sales agent for large manufacturer based in Brechin.

Classique
Manufacturing factory/showroom in Kilbirnie. A sound, middle-of-the-road local company.

Design Blind
See Blind Design 2 business above.
Express Blinds
Sorry - daren’t comment.

Florida Blinds
A fireman who makes vertical blinds in his garage at his house in Troon, and buys all other kinds in.

Fresh Look
Sales person from Crosshouse who buys in blinds and re-sells them to the public. Has stopped advertising so may have disappeared.

Hillary's
The biggest national-selling company. Manufacture in Washington, Tyne and Wear, and distribute via commission-only salesmen who earn 15% of the sale value for selling and fitting. Product quality is excellent. The commission-only salespersons' fitting can be iffy. Prices on a par with "Apollo" ie about 30% higher than ours for comparable blinds. Disappointingly, they seem to use misleading advertising i.e “50% off summer sale” which still leaves their prices 30-40% higher than ours for comparable blinds. See our '3 for 99 - The Myth' page.

Shades Blinds
See case studies No 1 and 2 in the “3 for £99-the Myth” section
Famous for their TV advertising featuring three mice. Their corporate philosophy is "Use an attractive appearing low price offer to gain access to someone's house, then switch-sell to medium quality at top quality prices." It must work, for Star Blinds is following exactly that pattern.

Sovereign Blinds
See Case Study No. 3 in the "3 for £99, The Myth" section.
Factory/showroom in former Monsanto plant in Dundonald. Disappointingly have now relegated themselves to the second string rank by using the “bait and switch” advertising of “3 for £99.” And they were once a sound middle-of-the-road local company.

Star Blinds
Burst onto the scene from nowhere about May 2007, with huge adverts. Turns out they are a new subsidiary of Hillary's, aimed squarely at the bottom end (ie the gullible end) of the market. They are reportedly Hillary's response to "Shades Blinds" taking a share of the cheap, low quality end of the market. And, although their adverts are huge, are they honest and truthful? For example, they say "Star Blinds of Ayrshire." The nearest Star Blinds employee to Ayrshire is in Nottingham! Typically, their agents who are all self employed get a one day “training” in a hotel in Glasgow, they are then let loose on the public. See our "Three for £99 myth" page.

V B S
Vertical Blind Specialists. Factory/showroom in Hurlford.

If you have any experience of any of the above companies, or indeed any others not mentioned, and you feel it would be helpful to prospective buyers for you to share the experience, please use our feedback form. We will need a phone number for verification purposes before posting any comments on our web-site.

[blindmansam]

Now is the time to open a Branch in Ayrshire. I'm on the phone to real estate agents right now!

[jackson7]

I love the 3 for 99- the myth, priceless