Attire Accessories - May/Jun 2019 (Issue 76)

60 JOE DAVIES T: +44 (0)161 975 6300 W: joedavies.co.uk What have been the key milestones of the last century? There are too many to list, but in the late ’70s the company purchased No. 29 Shudehill, Manchester, at the same time goods from Hong Kong, Taiwan and Japan started to feature in the market, the gift trade increased, and JD did quite well. The business then took on its first non-family manager, Syd Wood, who stayed with the company for 40 years and masterminded all the trade shows. Anne Davies looked after the accounts and masterminded the installation of our first computer in 1984. In 1980, Norman and Peter made their first trip to South East Asia. It was a game-changing trip, opening up a completely new market to buy from and a new range of products. It transformed the business, and we had to build an extension to our warehouse. At that time, the usual distributive path for imports was through wholesale and cash and carry or to retailers in big full carton lots. We sold only to our retail customers, so they had some exclusivity, and we all enjoyed a good period of growth. It was a good decade. In 1988, we had our very first trade show, Harrogate. What a revelation! We took £64,000 worth of orders in five days; we were exhausted and utterly delighted. Other shows included Llandudno, Torquay, and eventually Spring Fair followed. We moved to our larger, new, modern warehouse premises in 2001, and just last year we implemented a completely new computer system more than 30 years after the first. Any anniversary celebrations planned? We have already enjoyed some drinks and celebrations with customers at the NEC Spring Fair, and we will be celebrating all year round, with some great fun activities lined up throughout 2019. Watch this space! Any tips for younger companies hoping to make it to the 100-year mark? Slow and steady, beware of over-stretching. And if you look after the pennies, the pounds will look after themselves. What can we expect to see from Joe Davies in the next 100 years? Hopefully, you will see Joe Davies getting better at what we already do. We will continue to make it as easy as possible for people to do business with us and not give our customers a reason not to buy. Most importantly, we want our many, great independent customers to look at us as their supplier of choice, and we’ll keep working hard to exceed their expectations.