"Our biggest asset is our customers" - Material Things in Portsmouth celebrates remarkable milestone of 50 years in business
A Portsmouth furniture shop which started its life in the owners’ garage is celebrating 50 years in business.
Material Things, now based in Fitzherbert Road, Farlington, was started by Malcolm Gingell in 1975 and has gone from strength to strength, growing organically over the decades.
Malcolm said: “I worked in the garage alongside my house, drove taxis in the evenings, and worked during the day, and that's where it started. We started ostensibly just doing re-upholstery and as I progressed in the first few years, I would see people and they were saying they needed carpets or curtains, and I thought, ‘why can't we do that?’
“Now we have a group of experts that is second to none, specialists in interior design, curtains, blinds, flooring, carpets, hard flooring, furniture. We make our own range of furniture, and we've done work for a lot of famous people over the years through interior designers.”
While Malcolm is still involved, he leaves most of the running of the business to his son, Matthew, and daughter, Victoria. The success of the business has been credited to the family ethos.
Matthew started at the business as a teenager and worked his from the bottom to his current position as sales director. Meanwhile Victoria handles the accounting side with her husband running the workshop.
Matthew said: “It is very much a family affair. We have all come in at the bottom and worked our way up. I have worked here for 25 years and when I first started I was emptying bins while Vanessa worked as a Saturday job.”
At one point they had six small stores dotted across the area before the decided to amalgamate in one big site where they currently reside in Farlington 30 years ago.
Alongside family members, Malcolm credits the companies success loyal staff who have bought into the company ad the service it provides. He said: “We have outstanding staff. We don't lose people. Most of our people, once they join us, I think, in 50 years, we've only had three or four people leave for various reasons.
“We do have a family atmosphere for our employees as well as our co-directors. We all pull together, row in the same boat, the same way.”
Reflecting on the longevity of the business, Malcolm has always taken pride in providing a customer-centric service. He said: “My view has always been that the best thing we've achieved and our biggest asset is our customers. We bear in mind that the customer is the most important thing and wherever we can, we accommodate them in any way we can.
“You don't please all the people all the time, that's human nature, but we go a long way, and we have some wonderful recommendations from people. I feel some businesses, they get very successful and forget where it comes from, and it comes from your customers. That's the only thing that counts, as far as I'm concerned.”
Watch the video embedded in this article for the full interview with Malcolm and Matthew Gingell.