The age of Aquarius

hue the current economic climate would suggest consumers are taking more time before buying bathrooms, it’s not the case at Aquarius bathroom studio in Countesthorpe, Leicester. Co-owner, Lee Morris claims customers are buying bathrooms within a week of entering the showroom. He puts the showroom’s instant success down to a culmination of a number of factors; timing, experience, location, imagination, honesty and strangely the recession. He says: "The recession has actually been a benefit for us. It’s a buyer’s market at the moment. We got a good deal on our lease and better terms and deals from our suppliers too. When we began designing the showroom we had to sell our dream to the suppliers. Now because of the recession, we are in a position where they are having to sell to us."

Taking a share

Although new to independent retailing, Lee gained his experience in bathroom sales from his employment at merchant groups. He has worked for both PTS and Grahams. "When I started at Grahams there were two lads in the office dealing with around 50 enquiries a month. And the company wanted about £50,000 a month in sales. Within the space of around 3-4 months we had 600 enquiries and our sales were a million pounds a month," he explains proudly.

Lee also divulges that before he left Grahams the company was making around eight million pounds a year in sales of commercial sanitaryware. And it was this that made him realise that if he could make a percentage of that kind of money, his showroom would be a success.

Finding your place

Joining with his brother they planned to open an independent showroom and Lee found the perfect location. He didn’t want a spot close to a major town, but in the village of Countesthorpe, which at first glance is small and picturesque but rather remote.

However, Lee saw its potential and explains that looks can be deceiving. "We wanted this village because as far as Leicester is concerned this is the nicer end. The good thing about our position is that a lot of people use Countesthorpe as a cut through design idea and nine times out of he aims to provide his customers to south Leicester and surrounding areas. People also come the other way to get to Blaby and Lutterworth and so we get plenty of passing traffic," he reveals.

And proof that he has found the right spot is that with only a large banner attached to the fence people are flocking in. He says: "The first couple of weeks was a little worrying because we only had a couple of people in. And then suddenly, over night, we are having 15/16 people a week coming in. Almost everything we have touched has turned into an order. We have only lost one order so far."

Do it yourself

Perhaps controversially and rather unusually customers are happy to buy into his ideas for their bathrooms without even seeing a drawing. He adds: "70-80% of what I have sold so far is not even on display. I give them a complete 10 there is no drawing. I explain and they imagine. The second I say I built the showroom myself and designed every bit of it, grouted every single tile and scraped every bit of paint off the beams people are like ‘well come to our house and design it then You get pure trust from the customer because they can see we know what we are doing. However, if a client wants to get rid of their bath and replace it with a shower enclosure, then sometimes the waste options may not be available. So, when it is a little bit more technical, I get the plumber to go round and do a survey too."

Future expansion plans

He is not naiVe enough to think that customers do not shop around. And although he certainly has a gift for sales and oozes positivity, his showroom is a big contributor. With the other showrooms in the area, in his opinion, offering little inspiration with realistic-sized, contemporary looking bathroom settings. "We have 17 full displays. We have chosen realistic sizes, so you can literally just add water and have that suite. We wanted the showroom to be light and airy and comfortable to be in," he divulges.

But Lee has no intention of sitting back and enjoying his early success. He is already looking to expand, with an extension to his bathroom showroom and the inclusion of a kitchen one too. He explains: "We have 3,500 sq ft again behind this showroom to extend the bathroom side and then another 4,500 sq ft next to that for a kitchen showroom. We took the building on knowing that we could grow the business rather than building this and then needing a new showroom later down the line in order to expand." With high hopes and the orders flooding in, Lee Morris is welcoming in a new dawn of retailing.