Spotlight On… Johny’s Wares

**Note – Johny’s Wares closed in September 2017 following Gille’s skiing accident**

This week, we speak to Johny and Gilles of Johny’s Wares, Woodingdean’s very own Aladdin’s Cave. 

We dreamt of opening a hardware shop long before we made it a reality. It was something we’d both wanted separately, so when we met we decided it was time to make it happen. We invested everything we had in getting our business off the ground – Gilles sold all of his possessions to raise the funds! We scouted all around Brighton for a suitable area before finding the perfect location in Woodingdean.

Starting the business in a recession was one of the best choices we ever made. People told us we were crazy, but actually the timing was perfect. When people are struggling for money, it suits them to shop locally; they can save on petrol, parking and time. Gilles studied the market and realised that, at the time, 80% of Tesco’s profits were coming from their corner shops. People like being able to do their shopping on their own high street, within their local community. That’s what we wanted to provide, and it’s clearly worked because two years on we’re still here.

There’s no point stocking a novelty toilet brush if no one will buy it. When we started out we had a few items that we really liked, but they wouldn’t sell. Often people loved to stop and look at them, but nobody actually bought them. It taught us that you should always stock what people want, even if it’s not what you expected to be selling. Johny is great at listening to the customers and adapting our stock to meet their needs. For example, we had lots of parents coming in asking about kids’ lunchboxes, so now we stock a range of those. We now sell all sorts of things besides hardware.

The little things make a big difference. We’ve created a welcoming, relaxed environment for people to shop in. That means providing customers with bathroom facilities, letting dogs inside the shop and giving them a biscuit, going the extra mile for customers with special requirements. We installed a doorbell out on the street so that anybody unable to climb the stairs could ring and we’d bring the products out to them. We also pride ourselves on being very knowledgeable on our products and we can always give customers advice if they’d like it.

It’s been great to see Woodingdean grow. When we first opened, there was nothing on Warren Road. Now, there are quite a few shops, with more coming all the time. Woodingdean is a very friendly, close community of people who support each other. Although in the future we’d like to expand Johny’s Wares online and even to another store, we’re first and foremost a Woodingdean business.