Following the acquisition of another long-established electrical retailer, Cooper & Elms is beginning a new chapter in its 42-year history. ERT’s Will McGill travelled to King’s Lynn to meet Director Ian Cooper and talk expansion, changing consumer habits and why there is still plenty of life in the independent electrical retail sector.
Cooper & Elms has seen a lot change since it first opened its doors in King’s Lynn in 1984.
Established by Ian Cooper’s father on 1 September that year, the business began life as a Tandy dealer, selling smaller electronics and components before developing its brown goods offering.
Today, the shop looks rather different. Around 80 per cent of the showroom is now given over to white goods, a shift Mr Cooper traces back to the decision to join Euronics in 2009.
“Prior to that, we were purely brown goods,” he tells me. “We thought we had to take that leap and join the buying group, which obviously opened up white goods to us. Now, as you can probably see looking around the store, about 80 per cent of it is white goods.”
It was a difficult period personally for Mr Cooper, with his father sadly passing away in the same year and therefore not getting to see the transformation that followed. His mother, who was also involved in Cooper & Elms, has since passed away too.
Mr Cooper has now been running the business for around 16 years alongside his wife, Emma, and Cooper & Elms celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2024.
Two years on, it is entering another important chapter.
Branching out
On 1 June, Cooper & Elms began trading from a second location in Heacham, around 12 miles from its original King’s Lynn shop, following the acquisition of the premises and stock of A.E. Wallis.
The former owners had decided to retire, with A.E. Wallis ceasing trading on 31 May and the store reopening under the Cooper & Elms name the following day.
While Cooper & Elms can boast more than four decades in business, A.E. Wallis went back even further. Established in 1939, it had been run as a second-generation family business and had served the area for 87 years.
Mr Cooper had been considering expansion for some time, but previous opportunities had never quite been right.
“I’ve been looking to expand,” he says. “Over the last 10 years there have been various possibilities, but this one just felt right.
“The economic climate is probably not ideal, but it’s a good business and it sits nicely alongside us.”
It was not a case of buying an unknown competitor either. Mr Cooper had known the previous owners for years and the two retailers regularly helped each other, whether that meant sending a customer down the road or checking if the other had stock available.
“There’s a natural overlap,” Mr Cooper explains. “We’re only about 12 miles apart. We did some business out that way and he did some business this way, but we weren’t on each other’s doorsteps.”
Mr Cooper is conscious that taking over a business with such a long history needs to be handled carefully.
“We’re just doing small tweaks to make it our business,” he says. “We don’t want to do anything too drastic too soon and upset the customer base over there. It’s about bringing it in line with how we operate.”
Some of the history of A.E. Wallis will remain on show, including old radios, televisions and other memorabilia accumulated over the years. More importantly for people living locally, the shop itself has survived.
“We’ve had a very warm welcome from people in Heacham and the surrounding areas,” Mr Cooper says. “Even people who haven’t gone in to purchase anything have been glad the shop is remaining and that we’re going to be there.
“I think there was a real fear that it was going to close.”
There was always a question over whether customers loyal to A.E. Wallis would continue shopping there after the change, but the early signs have been encouraging.
“Touch wood, in the first month they seem to be supporting us, which is very pleasing.”
Different by a dozen miles
The acquisition has also given Cooper & Elms more space to work with. Mr Cooper describes the King’s Lynn shop as a compact showroom, whereas the Heacham property comprises four units. Three currently make up the electrical operation, while the fourth, previously a bike shop, is being used for storage.
“There is scope to possibly expand the showroom over there as well,” Mr Cooper says.
That is for further down the line. The priority is getting Heacham established and learning how the two locations work alongside each other.
Despite being only 12 miles apart, there are already noticeable differences.
SEBO is one example.
“I struggled to sell SEBO in King’s Lynn,” Mr Cooper says. “I don’t know why. We did the odd one or two, but over there they told me they do quite a bit of SEBO.”
Another Euronics retailer with experience of running two shops had warned him this might happen.
“He said, ‘You’d be surprised how different two shops can be being so close together.’”
It means Mr Cooper cannot simply replicate the King’s Lynn product mix in Heacham and assume customers will behave in exactly the same way.
The team now numbers eight across the two branches, with staff able to move between them when required. A cloud-based telephone system is also being introduced, allowing calls to divert to the other shop if somebody is unable to answer.
That flexibility is useful in a small business where job descriptions are not always rigid.
“The engineer will help in the shop if we’re short and then he’ll get out on the delivery van,” Mr Cooper explains. “I’ve gone out on the delivery van sometimes. It’s how it works. We can help each other out.”
There is plenty of loyalty within the team too. One engineer has worked with Mr Cooper for 23 years, while previous employees have stayed for long periods before retiring.
“You’re trying to find those who are going to suit our business, who are customer-focused and who will complement our team,” Mr Cooper says.
Feeling the heat
One thing you cannot plan quite so easily is the British weather.
When I visited Cooper & Elms, the country was in the middle of a spell of hot weather and fans and portable air conditioners were disappearing almost as quickly as Mr Cooper could source them. The retailer had even started keeping a list of customers waiting for air conditioning units.
“We had a small supply come in last week, but they just went within a couple of hours,” he says. “We were just working our way through the list.”
Mr Cooper has seen demand for air conditioning gradually increase year-on-year, but adding a second store has made judging stock levels more complicated.
“How many do I need now?” he asks. “It’s the stock planning and things like that. It’s still a little bit of a learning curve, knowing how many are needed to cover both places.”
There is, however, an advantage to being small enough to respond quickly when something suddenly takes off.
“If there is a heatwave or something is in high demand, hopefully we can make a phone call to our suppliers and have some more here in a day or two,” he explains.
“That’s a key strength of being independent. We can react quickly.”
Away from seasonal products, washing machines and dishwashers remain among Cooper & Elms’ biggest sellers.
The retailer supports Euronics-exclusive brands including Blomberg, Schönhaus and Sensis, alongside a wider range of manufacturers. Mr Cooper is also prepared to try newer brands where he believes there is a market, but what happens if a product goes wrong matters just as much as getting it onto the shopfloor.
“It’s the backup service,” he says. “If a customer has an issue, they’re going to ring us. It’s value for money, quality and backup. That’s always the thing.”
Being independent also gives him the freedom to change course.
“We can pick and choose what we want to do. If it’s going to give me issues, we don’t stock it anymore.”
TV remains part of the mix, with Sony performing particularly well. The average screen leaving the shop is considerably larger than when Mr Cooper began his career.
“When I first started out it was a 21-inch,” he laughs. “The market for bigger TVs is always on the increase, but I’d say around 50 inches is probably the most popular size now.”
Behind the shopfloor
During my visit, Mr Cooper took me through to the workshop behind the King’s Lynn showroom, where Cooper & Elms continues to carry out repairs.
Its engineer handles brown goods alongside products including microwaves and vacuum cleaners, while the business works with trusted local engineers for appliance repairs it does not undertake itself.
Those relationships work both ways. Cooper & Elms can recommend somebody it trusts when a repair is needed, while an engineer might send a customer back to the retailer when an old appliance is beyond saving.
The service continues when somebody does need a replacement. Cooper & Elms offers free delivery within a 25-mile radius, with customers also able to pay for installation and recycling. The delivery team can remove the old appliance, install the replacement and run through how it works.
And if the customer has forgotten something by the following morning, the shop is still there.
“We’re always here on the end of the line,” Mr Cooper says.
For Mr Cooper, that is where an independent can offer something different from an online-only retailer.
He is realistic about the challenges. Internet retailers can undercut on price, while business rates, increasing operating costs and occasional supply chain problems all add pressure.
“It doesn’t get any easier,” he says. “But I still enjoy the challenge.”
There are also times when the personal nature of running a family company makes things harder.
“When things go wrong, you take it to heart because it is your baby in a way,” he says.
On the other hand, the positive feedback means more too.
“You get that sense of pride when something goes right or somebody rings you up and says, ‘You did a really great job, thank you so much.’”
Part of the town
Mr Cooper’s involvement with King’s Lynn extends beyond the walls of Cooper & Elms.
He sits on the board of the town’s Business Improvement District, working with other businesses, the council and local stakeholders to promote the area.
Projects have included food and drink events, markets, outdoor cinema screenings and a Summer of Sport event. The Discover King’s Lynn app, launched last year, also gives businesses a place to promote offers while highlighting what is happening locally.
Cooper & Elms still uses traditional marketing methods too. Mr Cooper advertises in a free local newspaper around once a month and is planning a leaflet drop around Heacham.
“It’s just keeping the name out there, keeping it fresh in people’s minds,” he explains. “When they do need something, they can think of you.”
Social media is becoming a bigger part of that mix, with Facebook and Instagram already being used, although Mr Cooper admits fellow Euronics retailers keep telling him he needs to get onto TikTok.
For Mr Cooper, some of the biggest rewards of running the business remain considerably more personal.
“Seeing generations of the same families coming through is one of the positives,” he says. “You think, ‘I knew your mum and dad’, or their grandparents.
“You build relationships with customers. I class a lot of customers as friends.”
What comes next?
For the next three to five years, Mr Cooper’s ambitions are fairly straightforward.
He wants to establish Heacham as Cooper & Elms, potentially expand the showroom there, increase the product offering where appropriate and continue growing the business.
“Hopefully we can continue what we’re doing and improve on what we’re doing if we can,” he says. “Just keep growing the business and keep making the right profit.”
There could even be another generation of Coopers behind the counter one day. Mr Cooper has two children, aged 10 and eight.
“It’s too early to say whether they’ll take it on,” he says. “But it would be nice for it to go into a third generation.”
Before I left Cooper & Elms, however, something happened that summed up the business better than another question probably could.
During our interview, customers had been coming through the door with queries. Some wanted advice about products, while others needed help with something they already owned. Our conversation would stop, Mr Cooper would deal with whoever had walked in, and then we would carry on.
There was no hard sell and, importantly, his attitude did not change when it became apparent there was unlikely to be a sale at the end of the conversation. He was simply happy to help.
At one point during the interview, Mr Cooper had told me: “Treat customers how you’d like to be treated yourself.”
It is the sort of phrase you hear quite often when talking about customer service. Sitting in his shop and watching him deal with the people who came through the door, though, it did not feel like something Mr Cooper was saying because the Editor of ERT happened to be sitting opposite him.
Cooper & Elms has changed enormously since Mr Cooper’s father opened the business as a Tandy dealer in 1984. Brown goods have given way to white goods, 21-inch televisions have become 50-inch televisions, customers can research almost anything online before entering a shop and the business now has a second location to its name.
But perhaps the reason people have continued coming through its doors for 42 years is much less complicated.
They know that when they do, somebody will be there who is willing to help – whether there is a sale in it or not.
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