Retail Harts of Stur Harts of Stur is not your typical kitchenware retailer, but its innovative approach to trading has reaped rewards. Clare Turner reports
On bricks and clicks
Harts of Stur is an awardwinning fourth generation family business based in the Dorset market town of Sturminster Newton. Established in 1919, it is one of the UK’s largest in-store and online retailers of cookware, kitchenware, and small electricals, stocking a comprehensive range at competitive prices. Purchasing and operations director David Conduit describes Harts as “a true country department store” with well over
50,000 different skus on offer at any one time. Key departments include Cookshop, Clothing, Gardening, Housewares, Tools, DIY, Giftware, Bedroom, Bathroom, and Ironmongery, spread over a total retail floorspace of 20,000sq ft. The Cookshop measures about 7,000sq ft and carries more than 40,000 skus, although there will only be approximately 12,000 skus on display at any one time, with the rest available from Harts’ warehouse - which is just out of
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the back of the shop, so any instock line is a few minutes away. David says this huge assortment is sourced “mainly from established EU brands, but we do have a couple of US and Asian brands in our portfolio”. Key names include KitchenAid, Magimix, Stellar, Jura, Cuisinart, Arthur Price, Rayware, Oxo, Le Creuset, Denby, Portmeirion, Melitta, GreenPan, Global, and Zwilling, “and we have enjoyed successful trading relationships for many years with most of these,” he says.
Harts takes its duty as a responsible retailer incredibly seriously, and has invested in initiatives to reduce its environmental impact through the use of renewable energy and recyclable packaging. It also has a robust age-verification system in place online to prevent the sale of knives to under-18s. 18 KITCHENWARE INTERNATIONAL
When sourcing new lines, David attends trade exhibitions such as Spring Fair, Ambiente (“which is important to us”) and Exclusively (“a really good show, which could be bigger and longer”). He also finds products via supplier visits and smaller shows in different industries, as well as customer recommendations, and by “keeping my eyes open when shopping, and watching attentively what our competitors and peers are doing”. His selection criteria are practicality, commerciality, profitability, desirability, consumer recognition, design, and brand engagement. Currently, British made products are doing particularly well for Harts (such as Taylor’s Eye Witness Heritage knives, and Samuel Groves cookware and bakeware), along with bean-to-cup coffee