The first time I really became aware of Dunelm Mills was when, like many other parents in the UK, it was time for our children to leave home and take up their places at University.
The quest to furnish their new homes cost-effectively with, among other everyday basics, bed linen and towels that would not only withstand the relentless pounding of varsity life, but also the institutional washing machine – the scourge of fabrics everywhere and a machine that takes no prisoners and has no respect for labels of any sort.
Our savior was Dunelm, a true no-nonsense and perhaps unheralded retailer that operates very successfully in the home textiles market.
Those of you living in the South may not be too familiar with Dunelm because it still operates most of its 84 stores from out-of-town locations, in the Midlands and Northwest. The good news is that Dunelm is planning to have a 150 stores, giving it national coverage.
The roots of the business go back to Leicester in 1979 where, from a market stall, Bill and Jean Adderley built a retail promise: “Simply value for money”, which is still as true today as it was in the beginning.
In many ways the stores, now ranging from 25,000 sq ft to 30,000 sq ft, are set up like a series of giant market stalls and – this is a significant part of its customer appeal – it is stripped-down honesty; what you see is what you get.
The shopping experience is rudimentary. The store layout and product presentation are essentially functional – no voyages of discovery or excessive lifestyle graphics here – this is about miles of aisles and functional point-of-sale.
However, what you do get is real product authority and unrelenting abundance of product – just like a good supermarket. It seems to me that the staff, friendly when asked for help, are tasked with ensuring that every hook and shelf of the store is constantly filled to breaking point.
It is this authority, abundance and brilliant prices that make customers keep shopping at Dunelm. You always feel that there is another little gem around the next corner that will make your home a better place.
It would be easy to deduce that Dunelm only attracts those customers who live on tight budgets. However, the car park tells a different story. Not only is the product “simply value for money”, but there are, in most categories, own-label and branded products where the buyers are right on the money when it comes to mass-market home style and fashion.
Dunelm is a business I admire. Quite simply, to steal from the advertising world, “it does what it says on the tin”.
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