What We Were Doing Whilst Our Stores Were Closed
We can now finally see the light at the end of the tunnel, nearing the inevitable ‘new-normal’! The coronavirus has impacted the entire world, and Gillies is no exception. For the first time since James Gillies opened shop in 1895, we sadly had to temporarily close our doors although fully supporting the steps that had to be taken. The unfortunate timing meant that our long awaited 125th anniversary celebration had to be postponed… but not for much longer!
With almost 125 years (to the day!) between our first trading date, and our new post-lockdown re-opening, we are delighted to announce that all our stores are back open with ‘The Great Gillies Re-opening Sale’ – NOW ON!
Now, after receiving approval to re-open, and with social distancing and extra hygiene measures in place in all our stores, we are delighted to be able to open the doors on our stores and offer fantastic re-opening offers.
Our buyers have worked with suppliers to secure once-in-a-lifetime offers, and with extra stock in our warehouses due to store closures, we are able to offer stunningly-good prices on many lines.
That being said, during our time of closure we have kept busy behind the scenes, in order to make sure we were best prepared for our eventual re-opening. Most of our time has been spent sourcing PPE and safety equipment, which has been installed in all of our stores. So, when you next visit us in-store you can expect to see some changes, including Perspex screens at desks and till points, as well as sanitising stations and plenty of directional signage.
While our stores were closed, we were still online and have been working to keep up communication with both existing and new customers. We had our very own E-commerce Manager Dominic working from home for the duration of lockdown, and were kept busy with online sales and enquiries direct from his home where he had to set up homeworking on his kitchen table. Like many, the idea of ‘WFH’ was more attractive than the reality of running businesses from sofas!
We also enlisted the help of our Visual Merchandiser Amy, who helped install and dress our flagship window display with our 2020 Garden Furniture. Whilst, in-store Amy also used this time to re-arrange some of or showroom displays; the perfect time to have a move around when the store is empty of customers.
As we buy from many different suppliers from all corners of the world, many of our orders had been placed months in advance of lockdown. One of the knock on effects of this was that selected container orders could not be postponed and resulted in us gaining an early grasp of the use of PPE and social distancing in the workplace! As a family business, all generations of the family worked alongside storeman and even I.T colleagues to unload and organise the stock arriving into the warehouse. Utilising PPE they manged to safely work together to accept 12 containers in during the course of lockdown. This meant that when restrictions were lifted we would have done everything we could have to minimise the inevitable delay to any waiting customers.
This wasn’t the only time the directors and family got their hands dirty during lockdown. A socially distanced clear-out was arranged to make way for the mass volume of stock the warehouse would receive when suppliers re-opened. Much like everyone else during lockdown there were things we got on with that we would otherwise have put off. After a thorough tidy of both the carpet and furniture warehouses, we made way for accommodating additional stock and customer orders to the tune of over 500m³.
As the weeks flew in, we were able to organise one-man no contact delivery of our garden furniture so that people could enjoy the beautiful Scottish weather that we received during lockdown. We enlisted the help of the 6th generation of the Gillies family, our new youngest employee, Rory who is son of 5th generation Marketing Director Ewan. Rory, at age 7, accompanied his Dad on his deliveries, making sure to bring along a picnic to get them through the day. Talk about enlisting them working in the family business young!
Whilst we hope never to encounter another situation similar to the one Coronavirus presented, behind the scenes we have continued work hard during these unprecedent circumstances. Ensuring we were ready to service existing orders as soon as possible, as well as being able to safely open our doors when the time was right. We would like to thank all of our customers who were patient and understanding of the situation, and all of our colleagues who adapted their usual way of working.
We wish everyone well and hope to see you in-store taking advantage of our Great Gillies re-opening prices soon!