Focus sold to US hedge fund Cerberus for £1.00

I wonder if Wickes will survive yet again?

EricP wrote:
Focus sold to US hedge fund Cerberus for £1.00

I wonder if Wickes will survive yet again?


Wickes was sold off by Focus in 2005 to Travis Perkins
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wickes

--
Adrian C

On Tue, 19 Jun 2007 00:29:53 +0100, Adrian C
wrote:

EricP wrote:
Focus sold to US hedge fund Cerberus for £1.00

I wonder if Wickes will survive yet again?


Wickes was sold off by Focus in 2005 to Travis Perkins
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wickes

Thanks for that. )

That has made me very happy. I like my local Wickes.

Sorry to have made a bad post though.

On 2007-06-19 00:05:53 +0100, EricP said:

Focus sold to US hedge fund Cerberus for £1.00

I wonder if Wickes will survive yet again?

Wickes is now owned by Travis Perkins, although it's demise would be no
great loss.

As to Focus, it's no great surprise that it's a failing business.
The stores are full of little bits of this and that and very little
worthwhile. Adding pets and crafts sections was a big mistake because
the stores now fall short on both these and DIY goods. Once one
includes the surly staff with bad attitude and the double glazing
franchises accosting people on the way in, I think that their fate is
probably sealed.

The three largest and most successful DIY stores worldwide are Home
Depot, Lowes and Kingfisher (B&Q, Castorama, etc.) The latter
two have copied the first... Overall the formula is pretty simple.
Large place where you can buy everything or almost everything that
you need to complete a DIY project.

Focus lacks what their name suggests.

Perhaps there is at least scope for a good old fashioned asset strip.

In article ,
Adrian C wrote:
Wickes was sold off by Focus in 2005 to Travis Perkins
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wickes

Didn't know that. Wonder who owns them? (can't access wikipedia at the
moment)

--
*Is it true that cannibals don't eat clowns because they taste funny?

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

"Andy Hall" wrote in message
...
On 2007-06-19 00:05:53 +0100, EricP said:

snip

Focus lacks what their name suggests.

Perhaps there is at least scope for a good old fashioned asset
strip.


Indeed, skip the stock, auction off the transport fleet and sit on the
property / land. The only thing is, will that give Cerberus a return
on their £225m 'investment'?...

:Jerry: wrote:
"Andy Hall" wrote in message
...
On 2007-06-19 00:05:53 +0100, EricP said:

snip
Focus lacks what their name suggests.

Perhaps there is at least scope for a good old fashioned asset
strip.


Indeed, skip the stock, auction off the transport fleet and sit on the
property / land. The only thing is, will that give Cerberus a return
on their £225m 'investment'?...


Probably..

On Tue, 19 Jun 2007 08:21:16 +0100, ":Jerry:" wrote:


"Andy Hall" wrote in message
...
On 2007-06-19 00:05:53 +0100, EricP said:

snip

Focus lacks what their name suggests.

Perhaps there is at least scope for a good old fashioned asset
strip.


Indeed, skip the stock, auction off the transport fleet and sit on the
property / land. The only thing is, will that give Cerberus a return
on their £225m 'investment'?...


The only mystery is how they survived so long. You often had our local Focus to
yourself !

Andy

On 2007-06-19 08:21:16 +0100, ":Jerry:" said:


"Andy Hall" wrote in message
...
On 2007-06-19 00:05:53 +0100, EricP said:

snip

Focus lacks what their name suggests.

Perhaps there is at least scope for a good old fashioned asset
strip.


Indeed, skip the stock, auction off the transport fleet and sit on the
property / land. The only thing is, will that give Cerberus a return
on their £225m 'investment'?...

It might and would depend on whether they have the freehold on any/
enough the store sites.

Nowadays, people are pretty aware of asset stripping in this context.
Less so in the era of the acquisition of Gamages department store,
which also had an unlikely purchaser. Nobody could figure out the
connection until they closed the operation down.

I am quite sure that Cerfberus wouldn't have purchased Focus without
seeing a good route for return on investment, although it's clear that
major surgery will be needed to make it a going concern.

Not impossible - consider what Stuart Rose has achieved at Marks and
Spencer - 82% rise in share price over the past couple of years is not
at all bad.

However, Focus does not have anything like the brand value so whoever
takes that on is going to struggle.

There probably is space in the market for three major chains of DIY
retailers. The other two have carved out their approaches. Focus
would need to do something radically different to them, and certainly
something radically different to what they are doing today.

"EricP" wrote in message
...
Focus sold to US hedge fund Cerberus for £1.00

+ taking on debt of £255m...


I wonder if Wickes will survive yet again?

In article ews.net,
:Jerry: writes

"Andy Hall" wrote in message
...
On 2007-06-19 00:05:53 +0100, EricP said:

snip

Focus lacks what their name suggests.

Perhaps there is at least scope for a good old fashioned asset
strip.


Indeed, skip the stock, auction off the transport fleet and sit on the
property / land. The only thing is, will that give Cerberus a return
on their £225m 'investment'?...



Yep the local Focus in Cambridge is a bit of a morgue which is a shame
really as its the only one over this side of town.. Still the land on
which they are will be worth silly money, right next to the railway
station!....
--
Tony Sayer

In article ,
Andy Hall wrote:
Wickes is now owned by Travis Perkins, although it's demise would be no
great loss.

I don't agree. In many places it's the only competition to the
B&Q/Homebase duopoly (sp?). Round my way those two compete on prices only
where they are close together. Which with Homebase means different prices
for the same article at different stores. For basic stuff Wicks is often
the cheapest.

--
*If at first you don't succeed, try management *

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

"Andy Hall" wrote in message
...
On 2007-06-19 00:05:53 +0100, EricP said:

Focus sold to US hedge fund Cerberus for £1.00

I wonder if Wickes will survive yet again?

Wickes is now owned by Travis Perkins, although it's demise would be no
great loss.

What's wrong with Wicks?

ISTM that you get trade stuff without the (snotty) 'you're not
in the trade' attitude of the other places.

tim

"Tony Bryer" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 19 Jun 2007 08:56:36 +0100 Andy Hall wrote :
Nowadays, people are pretty aware of asset stripping in this context.

Less so in the era of the acquisition of Gamages department store,
which also had an unlikely purchaser. Nobody could figure out the
connection until they closed the operation down.

OT but can you expand? I presume you mean that the buyer bought it for
the site and promptly closed the business down. I guess the same also
happened to Houndsditch Warehouse, the other destination of the annual
London Christmas shopping trips of my childhood.

Surely the 'Houndsditch' died economically as soon as it wasn't the
only game in town on a Sunday.

tim

On Tue, 19 Jun 2007 08:48:37 +0100, Andy Cap
wrote:

On Tue, 19 Jun 2007 08:21:16 +0100, ":Jerry:" wrote:


"Andy Hall" wrote in message
...
On 2007-06-19 00:05:53 +0100, EricP said:

snip

Focus lacks what their name suggests.

Perhaps there is at least scope for a good old fashioned asset
strip.


Indeed, skip the stock, auction off the transport fleet and sit on the
property / land. The only thing is, will that give Cerberus a return
on their £225m 'investment'?...


The only mystery is how they survived so long. You often had our local Focus to
yourself !

....and that often includes the 'staff'.

Regards,



--
Stephen Howard - Woodwind repairs & period restorations
www.shwoodwind.co.uk
Emails to: showard{whoisat}shwoodwind{dot}co{dot}uk

On Tue, 19 Jun 2007 08:56:36 +0100 Andy Hall wrote :
Nowadays, people are pretty aware of asset stripping in this context.

Less so in the era of the acquisition of Gamages department store,
which also had an unlikely purchaser. Nobody could figure out the
connection until they closed the operation down.

OT but can you expand? I presume you mean that the buyer bought it for
the site and promptly closed the business down. I guess the same also
happened to Houndsditch Warehouse, the other destination of the annual
London Christmas shopping trips of my childhood.

--
Tony Bryer SDA UK 'Software to build on' http://www.sda.co.uk

On Tue, 19 Jun 2007 10:04:39 +0100 Tony sayer wrote :
Yep the local Focus in Cambridge is a bit of a morgue which is a shame
really as its the only one over this side of town.. Still the land on
which they are will be worth silly money, right next to the railway
station!....

You're assuming that they own the site and building, which is unlikely.
If the value of the sites was more than the going concern value I would
have expected the current owner to have closed down loss-making stores
and sold off the site themselves rather than selling the whole lot on.

--
Tony Bryer SDA UK 'Software to build on' http://www.sda.co.uk

"Tony Bryer" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 19 Jun 2007 10:04:39 +0100 Tony sayer wrote :
Yep the local Focus in Cambridge is a bit of a morgue which is a
shame
really as its the only one over this side of town.. Still the land
on
which they are will be worth silly money, right next to the railway
station!....

You're assuming that they own the site and building, which is
unlikely.
If the value of the sites was more than the going concern value I
would
have expected the current owner to have closed down loss-making
stores
and sold off the site themselves rather than selling the whole lot
on.


But they would need be able to clear all their debts by doing so and
within a set period of time that is outside their control, the new
owners (having cleared the debts) can now do what they like in what
ever time scale they like.

On Tue, 19 Jun 2007 11:41:33 +0100 Tim..... wrote :
What's wrong with Wicks?

ISTM that you get trade stuff without the (snotty) 'you're not
in the trade' attitude of the other places.

I really do like Wickes, partly because it's a serious place, not
full of cushions and kitchenware, also because you can buy odd
quantities to suit the job, e.g. five bricks or half a pack of
bathroom tiles. And open to 8 even on Saturdays.

--
Tony Bryer SDA UK 'Software to build on' http://www.sda.co.uk

On 2007-06-19 11:07:46 +0100, "Dave Plowman (News)"
said:

In article ,
Andy Hall wrote:
Wickes is now owned by Travis Perkins, although it's demise would be no
great loss.

I don't agree. In many places it's the only competition to the
B&Q/Homebase duopoly (sp?). Round my way those two compete on prices only
where they are close together. Which with Homebase means different prices
for the same article at different stores. For basic stuff Wicks is often
the cheapest.

Builders merchants?

You have to be prepared to haggle though.....

On 2007-06-19 12:19:24 +0100, Tony Bryer said:

On Tue, 19 Jun 2007 08:56:36 +0100 Andy Hall wrote :
Nowadays, people are pretty aware of asset stripping in this context.

Less so in the era of the acquisition of Gamages department store,
which also had an unlikely purchaser. Nobody could figure out the
connection until they closed the operation down.

OT but can you expand? I presume you mean that the buyer bought it for
the site and promptly closed the business down.

Exactly. I was trying to find who it was who acquired them, but I do
vaguely remembering comments as to why did they buy them and then an
almost cultural outcry when the business was just closed down with
virtually no warning.


I guess the same also
happened to Houndsditch Warehouse, the other destination of the annual
London Christmas shopping trips of my childhood.

Gamages published a catalogue in the autumn as did Hamleys for this
very reason.

On 2007-06-19 13:49:52 +0100, ":Jerry:" said:


"Tony Bryer" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 19 Jun 2007 10:04:39 +0100 Tony sayer wrote :
Yep the local Focus in Cambridge is a bit of a morgue which is a
shame
really as its the only one over this side of town.. Still the land
on
which they are will be worth silly money, right next to the railway
station!....

You're assuming that they own the site and building, which is
unlikely.
If the value of the sites was more than the going concern value I
would
have expected the current owner to have closed down loss-making
stores
and sold off the site themselves rather than selling the whole lot
on.


But they would need be able to clear all their debts by doing so and
within a set period of time that is outside their control, the new
owners (having cleared the debts) can now do what they like in what
ever time scale they like.

Except that the drain cocks are still gushing in terms of costs.

On 2007-06-19 11:41:33 +0100, "tim....." said:


"Andy Hall" wrote in message
...
On 2007-06-19 00:05:53 +0100, EricP said:

Focus sold to US hedge fund Cerberus for £1.00

I wonder if Wickes will survive yet again?

Wickes is now owned by Travis Perkins, although it's demise would be no
great loss.

What's wrong with Wicks?

- Most of what they sell is mediochre at best (e.g. tools)

- Limited selection - often only one type of each thing. Paint is
mainly own brand for example, and a poor selection.

- Timber quality is appalling.





ISTM that you get trade stuff without the (snotty) 'you're not
in the trade' attitude of the other places.

I never get that attitude from other places because I don't allow them
to play that game. However, I do mainly tend to buy items of one
type from one place - e.g. electricals from WF, plumbing from PTS/BSS
and so on. In this way, and with an account at each, there is a
trading history. The only exception is if I have a project with a
spend on materials expected to be greater than about £500. Then a
request for quote goes to several places and I can go for best quality,
price and availability.

"Andy Hall" wrote in message
...
On 2007-06-19 13:49:52 +0100, ":Jerry:"
said:

snip

Except that the drain cocks are still gushing in terms of costs.


Depends how quickly the new owners act......

in 645625 20070619 165340 Andy Hall wrote:

What's wrong with Wicks?

- Most of what they sell is mediochre

Would that be a sort of orangey-yellow?

On 2007-06-19 18:47:45 +0100, Bob Martin said:

in 645625 20070619 165340 Andy Hall wrote:

What's wrong with Wicks?

- Most of what they sell is mediochre

Would that be a sort of orangey-yellow?

Well spotted. Slipped in to see if people were paying attention.

On 2007-06-19 18:16:04 +0100, Owain said:

Andy Hall wrote:
What's wrong with Wicks?
- Most of what they sell is mediochre at best (e.g. tools)
- Limited selection - often only one type of each thing. Paint is
mainly own brand for example, and a poor selection.
- Timber quality is appalling.

- expensive.

Last time I compared like for like, B&Q were cheaper.

Owain

I think so.

More to the point is that if I am going to visit a DIY store to buy a
mixed set of items then I only want to go to one. This tends to be
when the total expected spend is £50-100 or less. More than that and I
select suitable trade suppliers. That being the case, I want to look
across a typical set of purchases at the pricing, and certainly not
dick around buying one item here, another there and so on.

B&Q is further from me than Focus but almost always has the items on
this basis, usually a selection and overall across a basket of
purchases generally better prices. Added to this, they seem to
employ students at the weekends and quite a lot of staff from eastern
Europe. I've always found them courteous and helpful and willing to
put in the effort to help find things. Focus, OTOH, seems to employ
mainly slobby teenagers at the weekends and I find them rude, unhelpful
and generally with a DGAS attitude.

The market will decide.

Andy Hall wrote:

B&Q is further from me than Focus but almost always has the items on
this basis, usually a selection and overall across a basket of purchases
generally better prices. Added to this, they seem to employ students
at the weekends and quite a lot of staff from eastern Europe. I've
always found them courteous and helpful and willing to put in the effort
to help find things. Focus, OTOH, seems to employ mainly slobby
teenagers at the weekends and I find them rude, unhelpful and generally
with a DGAS attitude.

I've found focus to not be particularly welcoming to female customers.
I went in, intending to make one is a series of substantial purchases
(doing up a newly-purchased home), and was carefully ignored by staff,
who rushed to attend to every spotty youth who came up to the counter.
I left, and went to B&Q, whose staff went out of their way to be helpful.

Sheila

Owain wrote:
Andy Hall wrote:
What's wrong with Wicks?
- Most of what they sell is mediochre at best (e.g. tools)
- Limited selection - often only one type of each thing. Paint is
mainly own brand for example, and a poor selection.
- Timber quality is appalling.

- expensive.

Last time I compared like for like, B&Q were cheaper.

Our local one are good on the basic building materials - things like
plaster, cement etc are significantly cheaper than the BMs. Most other
stuff is not that exciting though. The grey power tools are usually from
a decent OEM, but often they want more for them that buying the real
brand elsewhere!

--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

Bob Martin wrote:
in 645625 20070619 165340 Andy Hall wrote:

What's wrong with Wicks?
- Most of what they sell is mediochre

Would that be a sort of orangey-yellow?

Na, that it a pigment of your imagination.

--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

In article ,
John Rumm wrote:
The grey power tools are usually from
a decent OEM, but often they want more for them that buying the real
brand elsewhere!

And they do that lovely cordless drill with the quick change right angle
drive. Only thing I've ever agreed with dribble about - except I've
actually got one.

--
*A day without sunshine is like... night.*

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

Andy Hall wrote:
On 2007-06-19 11:41:33 +0100, "tim....."
said:

"Andy Hall" wrote in message
...
On 2007-06-19 00:05:53 +0100, EricP said:

Focus sold to US hedge fund Cerberus for £1.00

I wonder if Wickes will survive yet again?

Wickes is now owned by Travis Perkins, although it's demise would
be no great loss.

What's wrong with Wicks?

- Most of what they sell is mediochre at best (e.g. tools)

Oh no it isn't! The grey Kress power tools are excellent, great value & 3
year warranty. Hand tools are good as well. I have an excellent set of
screwdrivers, great wire strippers, levels, post hole diggers, crowbars,
trowels & various other bits & bobs which are used daily & hold up well


- Limited selection - often only one type of each thing.

Plumbing fittings are cheaper than Screwfix.

Paint is
mainly own brand for example, and a poor selection.

I only buy magnolia :-)


- Timber quality is appalling.

Not as good as my local timber yard granted, but streets ahead of the stuff
in B&Q


--
David Lang
List Owner - Mentalists Asylum

In article , Andy Hall wrote:
On 2007-06-19 11:07:46 +0100, "Dave Plowman (News)"
said:

In article ,
Andy Hall wrote:
Wickes is now owned by Travis Perkins, although it's demise would be no
great loss.

I don't agree. In many places it's the only competition to the
B&Q/Homebase duopoly (sp?). Round my way those two compete on prices only
where they are close together. Which with Homebase means different prices
for the same article at different stores. For basic stuff Wicks is often
the cheapest.

Builders merchants?

You have to be prepared to haggle though.....

Hassle, takes longer than nipping into wickes, I've never been all that lucky
getting the builders merchants to get as cheap as wickes (maybe I've not
been after the correct stuff).

Also, builders merchants are not open evenings or Sundays which are the
most convenient time for me and they also don't tend to have big displays
of things (handy for the "I want a thingy wotsit" type shopping trip).

I like wickes. Down here in Folkestone the other options are Homebase
(expensive and full of crap wicker furniture and lawnmowers) or the new
B&Q which for the few things I've looked in there for have been expensive -
it's not a warehouse one :-(

Darren

The Medway Handyman wrote:

What's wrong with Wicks?
- Most of what they sell is mediochre at best (e.g. tools)

Oh no it isn't! The grey Kress power tools are excellent, great value & 3
year warranty.

The power tools are not exclusively Kress though, the grey range
includes some shed special badge engineered Chinese stuff as well as the
better quality bits dotted in among the range. The prices are not
usually that good compared with the original OEM (its harder to compare
on the Kress ones, since there are not many outlets for the OEM branded
versions in this country). Things like the 1/2" grey router is a badged
version of the Freud FT2000E which is a nice router, but they sell it
for about £20 more than you can get the Freud for from most online
vendors. Corded SDS drills seem ok, but then again they are pretty much
the same price as Makita.

Hand tools are good as well. I have an excellent set of
screwdrivers, great wire strippers, levels, post hole diggers, crowbars,
trowels & various other bits & bobs which are used daily & hold up well

Not so sure about trowels etc. I did a fair amount of plastering with a
wickes trowel to start with. Once broken in it seemed ok, right up until
the first time I used a Marshalltown one. There was no comparison. As
for my Wickes pointing trowel, the handle fell off!

The Wickes stainless spade I bought (looked like a good bet because it
had an extra long handle, which makes it a more useful length for me),
Is as bendy as a damp leaf - it is quite a challenge trying to dig
anything with it!

- Limited selection - often only one type of each thing.

Plumbing fittings are cheaper than Screwfix.

Toolstation is cheaper than both on copper. Plastic stuff is quite
pricey at wickes... I bought some guttering stuff from them yesterday,
and looking at the prices are quite revealing:

Wickes (screwfix)

112.5 deg offset downpipe bend £2.29 (£1.59)
Downpipe bracket £1.29 (£0.74)
Own brand PVA (5L) £9.99 (£4.99)


Paint is
mainly own brand for example, and a poor selection.

I only buy magnolia :-)

- Timber quality is appalling.

Not as good as my local timber yard granted, but streets ahead of the stuff
in B&Q

That's not much of a recommendation though ;-)

--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

In article , Andy Hall wrote:
On 2007-06-19 11:41:33 +0100, "tim....." said:

What's wrong with Wicks?

- Most of what they sell is mediochre at best (e.g. tools)

No worse than any of the other sheds IMO. I've got a Wickes Pro SDS
drill that is pretty good (badged kress)

- Limited selection - often only one type of each thing. Paint is
mainly own brand for example, and a poor selection.

Yeah, paint is a crap choice in there I agree. Was more impressed with
their water based satinwood a few years back than the Dulux one though.

- Timber quality is appalling.

Way better than B&Q and Homebase around here. And the staff appear to know
what they are on about and are willing to help which certainly isn't the
case in the Ashford B&Q in my experience - can't comment on the new Folkestone
B&Q really, it's not been open long enough (but it seems expensive)


I never get that attitude from other places because I don't allow them
to play that game. However, I do mainly tend to buy items of one
type from one place - e.g. electricals from WF, plumbing from PTS/BSS
and so on. In this way, and with an account at each, there is a
trading history. The only exception is if I have a project with a
spend on materials expected to be greater than about £500. Then a
request for quote goes to several places and I can go for best quality,
price and availability.

That's great if you buy enough to make accounts an option. I don't. I
can't remember the last project I had 500 quid to spend on :-(

Darren

On 2007-06-20 20:28:20 +0100, "The Medway Handyman"
said:

Andy Hall wrote:
On 2007-06-19 11:41:33 +0100, "tim....."
said:

"Andy Hall" wrote in message
...
On 2007-06-19 00:05:53 +0100, EricP said:

Focus sold to US hedge fund Cerberus for £1.00

I wonder if Wickes will survive yet again?

Wickes is now owned by Travis Perkins, although it's demise would
be no great loss.

What's wrong with Wicks?

- Most of what they sell is mediochre at best (e.g. tools)

Oh no it isn't! The grey Kress power tools are excellent, great value & 3
year warranty.

3 year warranties as a selling point don't do anything more for me than
laser guides.


Hand tools are good as well. I have an excellent set of
screwdrivers, great wire strippers,

I looked at them but still prefer the Wera and CK ones.



levels
, post hole diggers, crowbars,
trowels & various other bits & bobs which are used daily & hold up well

I don't tend to use those kind of things apart from levels very much
apart from some Marshalltown trowels.





- Limited selection - often only one type of each thing.

Plumbing fittings are cheaper than Screwfix.

I tend to buy in quantity from PTS.



Paint is
mainly own brand for example, and a poor selection.

I only buy magnolia :-)


- Timber quality is appalling.

Not as good as my local timber yard granted, but streets ahead of the stuff
in B&Q

I wouldn't buy timber at B&Q either.

On 2007-06-20 21:29:45 +0100, (dmc) said:

In article , Andy Hall wrote:
On 2007-06-19 11:07:46 +0100, "Dave Plowman (News)"
said:

In article ,
Andy Hall wrote:
Wickes is now owned by Travis Perkins, although it's demise would be no
great loss.

I don't agree. In many places it's the only competition to the
B&Q/Homebase duopoly (sp?). Round my way those two compete on prices only
where they are close together. Which with Homebase means different prices
for the same article at different stores. For basic stuff Wicks is often
the cheapest.

Builders merchants?

You have to be prepared to haggle though.....

Hassle, takes longer than nipping into wickes,

If you don't hassle people for a better price, you are giving them
money for no good reason.


I've never been all that lucky
getting the builders merchants to get as cheap as wickes (maybe I've not
been after the correct stuff).

On items likely to have significant cost either because the unit price
is high or because of the volume, I do do some quick price checks then
on visiting the merchant I know the price that I am looking for.
Generally I let them make the first price suggestion and then tell them
what I'm willing to pay. I'm honest about that and at least 80% of
the time they accept. It's a question of doing some business at some
price where they make a margin or not doing business. It's
competitive. Having a trading history does help as well.




Also, builders merchants are not open evenings or Sundays which are the
most convenient time for me and they also don't tend to have big displays
of things (handy for the "I want a thingy wotsit" type shopping trip).

I pick mid mornings and mid afternoons during weekdays to go to the
merchants; same thing for the odd occasions that I go to DIY stores,
slthough I may go to one of those shortly befor closing. I avoid
weekends at them like the plague - too many people browsing, wandering
about aimlessly and too many small kids running about and getting in
the way. They should be left at home.



I like wickes. Down here in Folkestone the other options are Homebase
(expensive and full of crap wicker furniture and lawnmowers) or the new
B&Q which for the few things I've looked in there for have been expensive -
it's not a warehouse one :-(

Given that situation, I would be looking at larger Castorama and Leroy
Merlin stores that are at least 30km from Calais.

dmc wrote:
I like wickes. Down here in Folkestone the other options are Homebase
(expensive and full of crap wicker furniture and lawnmowers) or the
new
B&Q which for the few things I've looked in there for have been
expensive - it's not a warehouse one :-(

Me too. I'm in a DIY store every day picking up one thing or another &
Wickes I reckon is best overall.

Agree about Homebase, bloody expensive. Had to buy a bag of Postcrete in
Homebase taday - £4:99. Only £3:49 in Wickes.



--
Dave
The Medway Handyman
www.medwayhandyman.co.uk
01634 717930
07850 597257

On Thu, 21 Jun 2007 00:01:30 +0100, "The Medway Handyman"
wrote:

dmc wrote:
I like wickes. Down here in Folkestone the other options are Homebase
(expensive and full of crap wicker furniture and lawnmowers) or the
new
B&Q which for the few things I've looked in there for have been
expensive - it's not a warehouse one :-(

Me too. I'm in a DIY store every day picking up one thing or another &
Wickes I reckon is best overall.

Agree about Homebase, bloody expensive. Had to buy a bag of Postcrete in
Homebase taday - £4:99. Only £3:49 in Wickes.

I have a Homebase within walking (IICBA) distance of home (next to
Sainsbury's), so. although it might appear expensive for certain
items, if I have to nip out for say a few screws it can be cost
effective (and convenient) to get my bits at said HB...

Obviously a planned job will involve a bit more research
--
Frank Erskine
Sunderland

In message , Andy Hall writes
too many small kids running about and getting in the way. They should
be left at home.

If I had to leave my kids at home when I went out to get stuff, I'd
often net have the chance to go
--
Chris French