Interview with Andy Beresford of Home Leisure Direct

We know our clients like to hear from fellow clients regarding how they have managed the Coronavirus lockdown and the measures being adopted to focus on recovery.

In the first of our series, Corporate and Business Services Partner, Roger Pimblett, asked Andy Beresford of Home Leisure Direct about his experiences with COVID-19.

Company Background: 

Home Leisure Direct is a retailer of games room products, such as pool tables, table tennis tables, jukeboxes, pinballs, arcade machines and so on. Put simply, lots of cool stuff you don’t really need.  

We specialise in the home market, but have recently added a commercial arm to the business, supplying pubs with contactless payment pool tables. We were the first company in the country to do this, and also have a number of patents for pool table designs around this concept.  

We employ 37 staff and have showrooms north of Bristol in Elberton, and warehouses and a logistics operation in Avonmouth, with distribution hubs around the country. 

Find out more about us and read Our Story.

We’ve been incredibly busy as a result of customers looking to entertain themselves throughout lockdown. So much so that we were featured on the BBC website as one of 6 companies thriving during lockdown. Then two weeks later I was interviewed on the Radio 2 Jeremy Vine show, explaining what had been selling well and why.

Having panicked that we were doomed at the start, we have found ways to operate and manage the business to keep running and manage everything remotely. 

Our team has been incredible at adapting, with us pivoting and changing how we do things continuously to be more efficient and to deal with the various challenges.

We live by the mantra of taking each day as it comes, being prepared to decide to do one thing one day, but then if it doesn’t work to quickly change our minds and do it differently the next. It’s been an incredibly fluid situation, which has needed managing continually. 

Funding and Finance 

Have you taken advantage of any government schemes?

Yes. We’ve used the furlough scheme. We have also received the grant for two of our properties, as they come under the retail, leisure and hospitality grant scheme, as far as Gloucester Council are concerned. 

But Bristol City Council have refused to give us any grant for our warehouses, despite us being a retailer in the leisure sector, and supplying commercially to the hospitality industry. Hence, I feel we should have been covered by this grant scheme. I have emailed an appeal, but yet to get a response.

We have also applied and been accepted for a CBILS loan. The whole process has taken 11 weeks so far. We are still negotiating over the covenants required, so it’s a good job we have been so busy and not desperate for the cash to survive.

Have you furloughed staff?

Yes, we have. At the peak we had 29 staff furloughed, with just 6 sales staff working from home answering the phone/emails and Live Chats. Our Finance Manager managed all the money, or lack of it. And I did everything else.

In May we re-started our logistics operation, bringing back a further 7 staff. I also brought back 2 marketing staff as I simply couldn’t cope with trying to do everything.

On June 19th we re-opened our showrooms for pre-booked appointments only, to enable social distancing and to ensure we don’t get swamped with customers.

We are bringing back 4 more staff to help manage our operational side.

That will leave 12 furloughed still, due to the lack of business from the commercial department.

Adapting to the situation

What changes have you made to your line of business?

Everyone is working from home, taking their Apple Macs out of the office, and setting up home-working stations in various corners of their homes. 

Last year we moved our phone system to VOIP, which has meant everyone can just work from home and use broadband to connect to the phone system from anywhere. 

We also moved all our email system to Google G Suite, so have everything managed in the cloud, meaning that has all been seamless. 

All our back-office systems are in the cloud now too, so again accessing things like Xero for our accounting has been easy too.

The team has adapted amazingly well. They miss seeing each other and the general office banter, but that has just moved to WhatsApp groups.

Have you diversified in any way?

We’ve added a range of hygiene products, in readiness for our commercial customers re-opening. We now offer automatic freestanding touch-free hand sanitiser dispensers, desk/counter barriers, face masks and a huge range of POS material for pubs or retailers when they re-open.

This came about by chatting to two of my suppliers who were really struggling from the lack of sales. One in Poland, without any furlough scheme, who usually makes air hockey tables, but turned his hand to making all the sanitiser dispensers etc. The other is a chap who does commercial vans signs, but with no new van sales he has been able to use his printing expertise to make all the signage for us.

Have you had to do anything innovative operationally?

We’ve had to manage delivering pool tables ourselves again, in customers' houses. So we have had to devise instructions for the customers to follow, as well as our staff. 

Our Chinese suppliers have been brilliant at sending us PPE with shipments, so we have been able to keep our staff protected with masks.

We’re now working through the Covid-19 Secure guidelines to re-open our showrooms. We are only going to open 2 days a week, for appointments only.

The guidelines are fairly onerous, but we feel it’s worth re-opening as we have a number of customers who wish to make large purchases, but understandably want to see the products first.

Opportunities

Has the situation presented any opportunities for your business?

Yes, as described above, our products have been in huge demand. Having been an internet e-commerce based business since our beginning, we were already ideally placed to make the most of this.

Have you seen increased sales or areas that have been unaffected by the situation?

Yes, our domestic retail sales are up considerably versus last year, but our commercial sales, to pubs and leisure establishments, have completely disappeared. This will be very challenging for the next year whilst they deal with re-opening and just being able to trade and trying to cover their costs as a minimum.

Returning to Business

What concerns do you have about returning to business?

Working from home was pretty easy. Then we moved to re-opening logistics, which has been more challenging, but the teams have coped admirably, and customers have been delighted to receive their new pool tables etc. I’m told the tips have been very good! 

I think re-opening the showrooms will be the most challenging, given the guidelines and trying to manage customers who want to touch everything and spend lots of time considering what is a large purchase. But as we have with everything else, we will find a way that works and keeps our staff and customers safe, whilst adhering to all that we should.

Do you foresee any supply chain risks that may be out of your control?

Yes, we are already seeing this.

Virtually all our manufacturers have managed to re-open around the globe, but with reduced output due to social distancing. Their challenge has been small companies that supply them with what you would consider a small component - they are struggling to survive.

The knock-on effect is that without one small metal component, you can’t complete a whole pool table. So our manufacturers are sourcing new suppliers or managing to adapt and make components themselves where they can.

What practical measures are you going to have to implement to return to business?

We’re already running and have never really stopped, it’s just about re-opening the showrooms and ramping up our deliveries, as the supply from the factories returns.

Is social distancing and other measures going to be an issue for your business going forward?

Yes, I think it will be for the showrooms, but we can manage it by limiting customers through appointments, and then ensuring they follow our rules when they are on-site.

Business Confidence

How confident are you about your market returning to normal?

The domestic retail side is booming, and I think it will continue to do so whilst people stay at home more. They can’t play pool in pubs for example, and are unlikely to go abroad for holidays. 

The disposable income of many customers has increased due to not going out, and cancelling holidays. So they are keen to treat themselves to something cool to have in their home and keep themselves and their family entertained.

The commercial sector will be really difficult and will probably take years to recover properly. We’ll work with all the pub chains we supply to adapt to their needs, and do all we can to support them.

Are you going to have to consider restructuring your business?

No. I think we are set-up as we need to be. I can shuffle staff around as we need. Luckily, many of my staff can multi-task and work in other areas of the company as we need. 

I think this flexibility has been fundamental in our being able to continue successfully through all the challenges we have faced.

Further guidance

We will be adding more interviews over the coming weeks.

Check out our Business after COVID-19: Transition Knowledge Hub for more guidance and advice on managing the pandemic.