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Retailer Face To Face: Oliver Bonas
The King Of ‘Cool’ As PG&H celebrates its 25th anniversary this month, Oliver Bonas too, is also celebrating a silver milestone. Having started out with a small fashion accessories shop in Fulham, South West London, in 1993, the name Oliver Bonas has gradually become a hugely respected, award winning, inspirational retail brand, most recently winning the Best Specialist Multiple Retailer of Gifts trophy at The Greats Awards in May. At the helm is founder and managing director Oliver Tress, who has successfully steered the business from one outlet to 72, evolving it into a very successful omnichannel business. So what comes next? PG&H put ambitious entrepreneur Oliver Tress into the hot seat to find out. Looking back over the past 25 years, Oliver Tress says that a high point of his hugely successful career as an award winning lifestyle-cum-fashion retailer came right at the very beginning. “I was driving home after my first Saturday in the store believing I could make a career out of this,” he smiles. “I had taken £1,000 and was euphoric that my gamble into the complete unknown appeared to have paid off.” Twenty five years later, and 71 outlets further on, the name Oliver Bonas has
Above: Oliver Tress, founder and managing director of Oliver Bonas. Right: Oliver Bonas’ Ecommerce strategist Camilla Tress (second left), together with customer service manager Sarah Davies, were presented with The Greats trophy as winner of the Best Specialist Multiple Retailer of Gifts by Lincoln Exley, managing director of Allsorted, category sponsor. Below: The first Oliver Bonas shop was opened in Fulham in 1993.
become a byword for ‘cool’ cutting edge fashion and homewares, a lifestyle store and then some. It’s the independent retailer that others respect and admire, a retail multiple that has grown over the past quarter century to attract, among other demographics, Millennials who are interested in ideas and creativity and are looking for that extra special something. Having always gone with his gut feeling - he started out selling imported watches and fashion accessories brought back from trips to Hong Kong - he now presides over a multi-channel retail ‘empire’ selling fashion to furniture, alongside homewares, jewellery,
scarves, small leather accessories, home fragrancing products, gift books, stationery and greeting cards. Everything is very aspirational, reflecting the original concept of selling ‘interesting gifts for interesting people’. But back in 1993, he recalls that his bestselling products were ashtrays, wine glasses and handbags. “You can guess which product didn’t stand the test of time,” he quips. More seriously however, he highlights that the biggest change in the lifestyle industry over the past 25 years has been the proliferation of lifestyle retail as a concept, and, alongside that, the customer’s acceptance. Progressive Gifts & Home Worldwide
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