Two brothers from Gloucester have opened their own furniture business after initially starting out buying and selling second hand sofas. Their business has since taken off and now they have a showroom and warehouse and employ ten members of staff at a retail park in the city.
Will Johns, 25, and his brother Isaac Johns, 23, from Churchdown, set out on their business journey in 2021. Their father, who owns a marquee business, had vans not being used during the pandemic, so his sons used Dad’s van to embark on their new enterprise with buying and selling sofas.
The duo then moved into taking sofa returns and clearance items from major retailers. They progressed on to rent a warehouse importing furniture from across the world, which are effectively products from the same manufacturers as the UK high street retailers use.
(Image: Johns brothers)
Will said: “The business is called Abode and is run by my brother and I. We have a warehouse in the Eastern Avenue retail park and have expanded and to have the showroom next door where a furniture shop used to be.
“The new showroom has two floors of 20,000 square feet meaning we have the largest sofa showroom in Gloucester. We specialise in recliner sofas but also do non reclining sofas as well as beds and dining ranges.
“The buying and selling of sofas started during Covid. My Dad has a marquee business and his vans were there doing nothing as he could not work, so my brother and I started buying second hand sofas and doing clearances and it went from there.
“It started snowballing and neither of us expected the business to get so big so quickly. A year later we had the warehouse in Eastern Avenue and recently took on the show room which opened on Boxing Day.
(Image: Johns brothers)
“We are really well placed in Gloucester. We feel it is nice and central to be accessed from all communities in Gloucestershire. We have really done well online and sell around the same amount online as we do in store.
“We make around 100 deliveries all over the country each week and often go to Scotland, as well as Birmingham and Bristol. Delivery is super fast, usually within seven days.
“The reason we believe we have managed to grow so quickly is essentially the delivery time, less than seven days where other retailers are closer to eight to 12 weeks.
“Then you get the value for money on the sofas. We offer really good value on both the budget and premium models so whatever you spend you are getting your money’s worth
“We import a lot of the sofas and try to get the same styles which are being sold by mainstream retailers. People come to us as we often get it delivered faster and cost less.
“The showroom looks really good and I hope people will come and take a look. This month, in December, we had a record sales month for the business.”
“Our future plans are to keep improving the online sales as well as look for other stores outside of Gloucester. We have a team of 10 and are growing quickly and looking for more good people to join the team.”