Retailer Profile: Whilton Locks Carpets
Spotlight on the flooring retailers who are putting their trust in the yellow bucket.
For this issue, we spoke to Haydon Wills, who runs Whilton Locks Carpets and Flooring, near Daventry, Northamptonshire, with his wife, Dorothy.
We begin by asking him about the history of the company.
“Whilton Locks Carpets is an independent, family-run business located in the heart of the lovely Northamptonshire countryside, surrounded by many lovely villages and beautiful rolling hills. We have operated in the local area for over 30 years. Our neighbours are the Whilton Marina and the Whilton Locks Garden Village, which has recently been voted the best garden village in Northamptonshire.”
Tell us about the team.
“The team at Whilton Locks Carpets have been with the company for a combined 50 years! They will each support you through your buying journey.
“Customers can be assured of a warm welcome in store, not just from us, but also from Candice and Daniel, who are on hand to expertly advise on your new flooring design, along with Andy and Neil, the team’s on-site surveyors, and Geoff looks after the warehouse.”
What’s different about Whilton Locks Carpets?
“We have a huge retail store: two floors of just flooring. You will struggle to find a store with a larger variety. We are fanatical about flooring: no blinds, no beds, only flooring.”
How has the market changed since you first setup?
“Customers want things faster then ever, and this has forced us to adapt and modernise, although we still prefer pen and paper when it comes to planning layouts. If one looks at F. Ball, they are continuously innovating and bringing out new products to support this. The market is also much more driven by social media and influencers nowadays.”
How does F. Ball help with this?
“We have a longstanding relationship with Phil Nightingale and a fairly new relationship with Rachel [retail representative].
“We always give F. Ball’s Technical Service Department a call when we come across things that we haven’t seen before that we aren’t sure if it will compromise the finished installation, and they are always pleased to help.
“It gives us peace of mind to know that we are recommending the best product available, and superb advice is only a phone call away. As doing the correct subfloor preparation may appear an unnecessary expense, it often prompts questions from customers, and it’s good to have the knowledge to explain to them why it’s essential.
“We also send new recruits on free subfloor preparation courses at the F. Ball Centre of Excellence, which are superb. We have planned a number of training sessions next year.”
We asked Haydon what he enjoys most about the flooring industry.
“No one plans to go into flooring; however, once you’re in it, you will never leave. What I enjoy most about it is that you will be faced with a new challenge each day, and we have never found a challenge we could not overcome.”
Any favourite products?
“As we sell a lot of carpet, we frequently sell Styccobond F3. We also stock a range of subfloor preparation products, including Stopgap 600 deep-section base compound for raising floor levels and Stopgap 300 smoothing compound for heavy-duty environments, as well as Stopgap 400 repair compound and Stopgap 500 finishing compound. Stopgap F77 is our fail-safe waterproof surface membrane for guarding against excess subfloor moisture. Stopgap 1200 is a go-to smoothing compound for us, including where installations are part of a refurbishment and old adhesive residues are present.”
