Power Point Stores has a background in servicing and has been selling electrical goods since 1995. With many of the staff having worked in the industry for over 20 years, Marketing Manager, Natalie Broad, tells ERT “what they don’t know about appliances isn’t worth knowing!”
Family-owned Euronics Agent, Power Point Stores, has been servicing and supplying home appliances in Telford, Shropshire for almost 30 years. The business, which specialises in white goods and kitchen products, has two high- street stores – one in Oakengates and the other in nearby Wellington. The company was founded in 1995 by husband and wife, Sterling and Avril Broad.
“My parents met when my dad came to fix my mum’s washing machine – they’ve been together for 35 years,” says Natalie Broad, Marketing Manager at Power Point Stores (left). Sterling had a background in servicing and Avril worked for a large retailer – they both lost their jobs on the same day, so combined their expertise and decided to start their own retail operation.
“They became more and more popular because of the level of service they were offering – it grew from there and they opened one store, then another. It slowly got bigger and now we have 10 staff,” says Ms Broad. She adds: “My dad was an engineer repairing washing machines in our garden and on the patio, and we had a collection of them in the garage.”
Ms Broad joined the firm three years ago during lockdown. “As a child, my parents used to bring me to work – I used to colour-in washing machine boxes in the back of the shop to keep myself entertained,” she says. “I’ve been in and around the place for about 30 years altogether!”
The next generation
The Oakengates store, which was refitted a year ago, with neon displays, is the hub of the business, as Ms Broad explains: “It’s where all the appliances are delivered to and where the staff report to. Meanwhile, the store in Wellington used to be a wedding dress shop and it has a lovely oak and brass interior.”
She adds that both stores share a similar customer demographic, which is mostly older, loyal shoppers: “They’ve been with us for over 20 years, and they’re now advising their children and grandchildren to come in, that’s how we’re appealing to the next generation.”
Power Point Stores also sells online and carries out local deliveries. Its key brands include Blomberg, Beko, Bosch and Siemens, but the business also stocks the likes of White Knight, Hisense and Samsung.
The personal service
Talking about how the business has fared recently, Ms Broad says trade has been busy of late, due in part to its close proximity to a number of competitors – including some large multinational companies. “We often have customers saying they enjoy the personal service they benefit from in our stores,” she says. “This is why they return time and again.”
Reflecting on the peak season in the run up to Christmas, she adds that it was quite busy – especially for ovens and cookers. “If anyone’s oven is on the blink, they don’t want it to fail on Christmas Day! We can also get a lot of repair jobs around that time – and we have two engineers and a delivery team to make sure we can always reach our customers.”
Looking ahead into 2023, Power Point is looking at taking on more staff across the board: “We need people in hybrid roles, who can flip between doing deliveries and being in the shop, depending on what the business requires at the time.”
Sterling Broad (Natalie’s Dad) trains staff on the engineering and installation side, tapping in to his many years as an engineer himself, and new shop floor staff are also trained internally: “Our existing staff are extremely knowledgeable – we have people who have been in the company for around 20 years,” says Ms Broad. “What they don’t know about appliances isn’t worth knowing.
“Our existing staff relate important information on new appliances to any new staff and we have physical machines in-store that we can demonstrate, which is a crucial sales tool.”
On being a Euronics agent, Ms Broad says there are lots of benefits: “Even though we’re a family-run independent, we are very close with the other stores that are in the area – we all talk regularly and help each other out when we need to. We have [Euronics] meetings every other month and these are such valuable updates because we also then know what’s happening in the market and what trends we might see coming up.”
Energy efficient appliances
Power Point Stores has also got behind recent Euronics initiatives around sustainability and women’s football, and more and more of the business’s customers are interested in learning about energy efficient appliances, Ms Broad reports.
“People are steering towards things like air fryers – although it’s tricky to get hold of the larger ones in the UK at the moment – and they also want energy advice on washing machines and dishwashers,” she adds. “We let them know which is the most efficient way to use them, and we also have heat-pump tumble dryers – we’ve been stocking a lot of those for a while because of their eco-friendly benefits.”
To promote its business in the local area, Power Point uses various social media platforms – an area that it’s currently growing – and it also carries out leaflet drops, which it finds work really well.
Ms Broad says that despite the usual ups and downs of the retail sector in recent years, she is positive about the future: “The country is in difficult times, but we have the benefit of being an essential store; whether someone needs a new washing machine, or needs to get one repaired urgently, they can pay us a visit and benefit from our in-store advice as well as our servicing and repair options.”
She adds: “During lockdown we had to close our doors but we were still operating behind the scenes and doing doorstep deliveries of essential items. The ‘shop local’ initiative definitely helped us and we hope this will continue into the future.”
