Exclusively Housewares and Exclusively Electrical have revealed that the winner of its inaugural Thrive and Survive competition is Huus, a design lead lifestyle and home accessories store ‘inspired by the clean and simple lines of North European design.’ Situated in the market town of Halesworth, Suffolk, Huus wins a consultation with Exclusively’s trends expert, Scarlet Opus who will review the store’s layout, décor, product offering, website, social media and merchandising.
Huus was chosen for the opportunities it presented, its enthusiasm to take part and openness to react and implement recommendations. The retailer is particularly keen for ideas on how to make more of an impact via its unusual shop exterior, which has small high windows.
Owners Jane and Ron Dekker are “absolutely delighted” to win the competition, stating: “This will be a fantastic opportunity for us to work with Phil Pond and his team at Scarlet Opus to identify opportunities to strengthen our brand and business. We are very excited!”
The couple admit that they had only been open for eight months when visiting the Exclusively Shows in June, stating: “It was still early days in terms of our knowledge of product selection, customer profile, footfall and marketing for our new retail concept from living in The Netherlands (as Ron is Dutch).”
Jane and Ron gained considerable insights from the shows’ seminars and entered the Thrive and Survive competition to gain further benefits from “a fresh view of the business” that “will challenge us in our thinking about the future direction of Huus.” The couple acknowledge that: “Tunnel vision can creep in easily and it is important to keep up with and ahead of the market in this difficult era of British retailing.”
The Exclusively Show Team will be sharing the results of Huus’ consultation with Scarlet Opus over the forthcoming months so that other retailers can also learn from the case study.
See www.huusliving.co.uk/gifts.html
Top: An interior view of Huus showing some of its housewares offering.
