PH SHELF PORTRAIT.qxp_Grid 27/03/2020 15:53 Page 2
Retailer profile
THE TOP
5 SHELF PORTRAIT GLIDDONS CORNER COOKSHOP
Above: Gliddons on a corner of the pedestrian shopping streets of Sidmouth.
Situated in the seaside town of Sidmouth in East Devon, Gliddons Corner Cookhop has been a family business for over 120 years. PH spoke to manager Mark Gliddon to find some of the shop’s facts and figures. Below: Gliddons’ popular Joseph Joseph section.
LOOKING BACK OVER THE PAST YEAR, THE SHOP’S TOP SELLERS ARE: l Chilly’s Bottles l Bee’s Wrap from Eddingtons l Sophie Allport Textiles l Joseph Joseph Flex Loo Brush l Robert Welch Designs Signature Knives
ON THE WAY
Facts and stats
You can’t beat The best thing about Gliddons is “product knowledge (if the modern consumer wants to hear it!)”
l The shop stocks several thousand SKUs: “It feels like 5,000 – we still work on a manual system.” l There are four part-time members of staff in addition to Mark and Andi. l The average sale is £15, “which reflects the big purchases and lots of small ones.” l Gliddons is a member of Bira and Home Hardware.
ON THE WAY
Working relationships
We are family
“We’ve been working with both Horwood and KitchenCraft for 40-50 years, going back to when my grandfather ran the shop. Grant was our Horwood rep for three generations and he is sorely missed since his retirement last year.”
Gliddons dates back to 1898 and has always been a family business. Mark Gliddon joined the business in 2009 when his father was about to have a heart bypass and continues to run the shop along with his wife Andi Gliddon (Andrea).
Keeping busy
Keeping it new
Gliddons promotes itself via Facebook, but its “Advertising is minimal as we find little works locally and it is tourism that keeps us going far more than locals.”
The latest addition to Gliddons’ shelves is Prestige Eco Pans from Meyer Group: “They are very on trend and we’re very excited to be stocking them.” PROGRESSIVE
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“Knives – very slightly. With the restrictions on sales of knives in supermarket and online, and with department stores cutting back due to the security required, the public are being forced back into the old fashioned way of buying knives in a specialist shop. However, the rise is not as dramatic as it was when we started to focus on knives as a speciality six years ago.”
HOUSEWARES
“Saucepans – people are buying these in supermarkets.”