Storage has become big business for the Howards Storage World franchise, specialist retailer of storage solutions for the home and office.
A home grown concept, the retail franchise started as a single shop called “Stack and Store” in Northbridge NSW in the early seventies, owned and operated by Les and Edda Howard. It was only 124sqm in size but was stocked with a large selection of organisational products.
In 1997, a partnership was formed with Dirk Spence after establishing the Australia wide market potential to roll out this niche concept through franchising. From there, the group rapidly evolved with the first franchise store opening in 1998.
By 2001, Alex Dobrin became a partner in the company after successfully operating the 8th franchised store at Warringah Mall, adding to the group his depth of hands on retail knowledge.
Today, Howard’s Storage World is a unique concept which cleverly combines innovative, essential household items within an exciting shopping environment, where customers find storage solutions for all of their needs. Howards caters for all members of the family and covers all rooms in the house.
The heart of Howards appeal is the promise of reducing clutter in customer’s everyday lives. The need to find “a place for everything” drives the Howards concept, offering a vast range of storage solutions for tidying up, sorting out and getting organised.
What sets Howards apart is a unique mix of over 3,500 products combined with a strong service offer, making Howards the specialist in this category. With strong franchise growth, Howards has been recognised by BRW magazine as one of Australia’s fastest growing franchises.
The group buying team sources products that are manufactured and branded exclusively for the stores. Global buying power allows Howards to offer the very best solutions and deliver them in store to the highest quality at the best price possible.
The franchise group is fully backed by a national marketing and promotional plan to ensure that the group achieves the vision to be every potential customer’s first choice in solving their storage needs. Combined with the stores own local area marketing initiatives, the advertising and in-store promotional materials capitalize on driving store traffic and growing the brand.
A key feature of the Howards strategy is a consumer catalogue that has a print run in excess of 1.6 million copies per year. The catalogue allows consumers to visually see how Howard’s products can transform their homes & offices, quickly and simply into better organised spaces.
The group also supports community involvement with initiatives such as “Bag for a Bear” for the charity Bear Cottage – a hospice for terminally ill children. In the past 12 months, over $100,000 has been raised for this very worthwhile cause.
From the outset Howard’s ensured that the franchising model they adopted was robust and supportive. This led them to seek advice from highly regarded franchising expert and author, Garry Williamson. With Gary’s assistance the operational structures necessary to support a growing group were established with dedicated buying, marketing, sales, merchandising and technical support. All Howards Storage World franchisees operate as independent businesses, yet are to the public one highly coordinated group.
When it comes to the granting of a franchise, Howards Storage World makes no apology for setting the bar high and places enormous emphasis on the right selection process. James Brouillard is the National Franchise Manager and conducts franchise information seminars throughout Australia and overseas.
Howards Storage World prides itself on the strong head office support it provides to its franchisees, which starts with comprehensive and ongoing training, conferences, and regular group meetings. In addition to this, the company provides field support, merchandising and product knowledge advice which is also available online via an intranet service.
Howards Storage World has expanded worldwide proving its storage solutions appeal to cultures around the globe. There are now master franchises trading in Singapore, New Zealand, Dubai & Spain, with many more to follow.
22-Jan-2007