Retailer profile: Winnens Flooring and Interiors
Spotlight on the flooring retailers who are putting their trust in the yellow bucket.
For this issue, we spoke to Talitha Ingram, general manager of Winnens Flooring & Interiors in Cheltenham.
We begin by asking her about the history of the company.
“It was founded in 1929 as a furniture manufacturer in the East End of London in 1929.
“Frank Newell, my grandad, began working there aged 17 not long after. In 1937, the business moved to Bath Road, in Cheltenham, and my grandad was in charge by the 1960s. His son, my dad, carried on the business from there until my brother, Aaron, and I started about 20 years ago.”
How have things changed over the years?
“My dad introduced quality flooring to the offering, manufacturing was phased out, and we became a retail showroom offering quality contemporary furniture and flooring.”
What has been the impact of wider industry changes?
“The internet played a massive part. We couldn’t hold the large amounts of stock needed to compete in furniture retailing. Flooring became massive, particularly luxury vinyl tiles and engineered wood. We’ve added blinds and curtains to become a complete interiors retailer.”
What’s different about Winnens?
“Apart from the complete interiors offering and wide variety of products that we stock, our customer service is second to none, and we have a breadth of product knowledge and experience that comes with being a family-run business that doesn’t have the staff turnover that larger stores typically do. The sales staff are passionate about helping people find exactly what they want, from first point of contact to completion. If we don’t have something in stock, we will go the extra mile to source it.”
What trends are you seeing at the moment?
“Design floors, including herringbone, chevron LVTs and Victorian-style designs are ever more popular.”
How does F. Ball help?
“Since F. Ball introduced dedicated representatives for flooring retailers, we see Rachel [Sorroll] all the time. We love F. Ball products, and the Ball Rewards programme, which rewards us with cashback with each purchase, is added incentive to use the products.”
What asked Talitha what she enjoys most about the flooring industry.
“It’s the interaction with people, finding out what they need and helping them realise their vision of how they want their spaces to look.”
Any favourite F. Ball products?
“We use a lot of Stopgap 1200, as well as the full range of F. Ball primers and specialist adhesives for the types of floorcovering that we sell.”
