2002 - 2008 - Elizabeth Bradley Headquarters - Claire Kershaw

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Why Claire's business won't lose the thread;
Business PROFILE
The owner of a popular needlework kits outfit tells David Jones how island life suits the pounds 1m a year operation -and vice versa.
Daily Post, Jan 21, 2004

Byline: David Jones

HERE'S no doubt in Claire Kershaw's mind that her business -apart from being a success in its own field -also contributes increasingly to Anglesey's tourist industry.

One thousand people from dozens of countries around the world signed the visitors' book at the premises of Elizabeth Bradley Designs last year. But it's the story of two American women that really illustrates the point.

The two Americans, on a visit to London, made a day trip by train and taxi late last year specifically to see the business which is located at Plas Bodfa, Llangoed, near Beaumaris. They did not ring ahead.

Kershaw was about to close for the day but when they turned up on the doorstep and she heard about their long journey she welcomed them and spent an hour chatting about the business.

”They spent an absolute fortune here before going straight back to the station. I told them they could have mail-ordered kits and we would have dispatched them postage free,'' she recalls.

”But they said they wanted to come here to see where the needlework kits are made and to meet me.''

She adds: “If people take the trouble to come here then we always make sure there are things for sale in the shop that they could not buy elsewhere -something special.''

Kershaw says that ‘pilgrimages’ such as that help to explain the mystique and strong brand image that the company has acquired among needlework enthusiasts around the world. She dismisses suggestions that those enthusiasts are mostly elderly ladies. They are, she says, very much a mixed bunch, including sea captains, pilots, new mums, young executives and nurses. Stitching is popular with men because it's a “precision thing'', she says.

What started in quite a small way on a kitchen table now has sales of about pounds 1m a year and is an internationally recognised brand with customers in places as diverse as Japan, Iceland and the Bahamas. The US market is important and Kershaw attends three major trade shows there every year.

The product range now extends to 200 different needlework kits - just two were offered when the business was started. Kits, designed, manufactured and assembled on the premises, are dispatched to stockists and customers by various carriers. The business is a big user of the local post office.

The business was founded in 1986 by Elizabeth Bradley, with Kershaw joining six months later.

”I took over as managing director 10 years ago and bought the business outright five years ago,'' said Kershaw, a tall, vivacious woman.

”I had been managing the business for so long that it seemed a natural progression to buy it when the opportunity arose. I think I had always had designs on running a business of my own.''

The business, then based in Beaumaris rather than its present more rural location two miles outside the town, grew “like Topsy'', says Kershaw - over the years.

Eventually its offices, manufacturing units, warehouses and retail shop occupied five different buildings, including a former chapel, dotted around the historic town.

”In some ways it gave us a quaint air, but from a management and overheads point of view it was a nightmare,'' she says.

”I had been looking for new premises for 10 years. I wanted to remain on Anglesey because I like the uniqueness that an island location gives us.

”But we had to find a building that was appropriate to the company's needs and image.

”We had looked at all sorts of sites, but units on industrial estates and business parks were totally unsuitable and nobody seemed able to help us.

”I had pretty much given up when I stumbled on Plas Bodfa.''

The imposing property, built in the 1920s as a private residence, with stunning views over gardens and fields sloping down towards the Menai Strait and Snowdonia, later became a steak house and then, until recently, a nursing home.

As Kershaw tells it, she had gone to Plas Bodfa to visit a resident and the home's owner, to whom she got chatting, asked her out of the blue: “Would you like to buy it?''

“That was on the Sunday. I made an offer on the Tuesday, not thinking it would be accepted.

”But the following day it was and the deal went through within six weeks.''

The large, country house set in 14 acres with formal gardens, lake, apple orchards and miniature Shetland ponies, has enabled all parts of the business to be relocated under one roof.

It also reinforces the sort of image that Elizabeth Bradley is keen to project, she says.

It houses office, administrative and production operations and expanded showroom and shop, to which have been added a traditional tearoom.

So many people, from all over the UK and abroad, make the effort to visit the company that Kershaw says she felt the least she could do was to offer them a cup of tea.

There is also room to accommodate more needlework classes suitable for everyone from complete beginners to experienced stitchers.

Kershaw has ideas on how she wants the business to develop, but is keeping them under wraps for the time being.

However, they are likely to involve the launch of complementary products under the established Elizabeth Bradley brand.

First, though, she says there must be a period of consolidation following the upheaval of the move to the new site. “Getting the property has been my biggest achievement. It was a big decision, but it was the best decision I have ever made,'' she says.

She laughs off suggestions that investment in the new base was risky: “I do not gamble. I sat down and worked everything out. Bodfa was well within our means.

”If something is not 100pc viable then I do not do it - not when people's livelihoods are at stake. When you have a business you have a responsibility to all sorts of people to make it work.

”I did not do all this on my own. I have a team of 15 staff who are a credit to the business.

”We did not lose a day's work when we transferred here from Beaumaris last year.''

She adds: ``I have no ambitions to become a multi-million pound business. I want a business I enjoy, working with people I like, not having to bust a gut to get orders out.''

A decision to move to a four day working week seems typical of the fairly relaxed, friendly atmosphere in the business. But Kershaw says that since the move to Bodfa she has worked every day to get the business settled: “I spent my fortieth birthday clearing out garages here and pulled a muscle in my back!''

Question & Answer

Age: 40

Home town: Chester

Now resident: Llangoed

Education: A levels

Career: Worked as a trainee quantity surveyor for a local business before launching her own temping agency.

Interests: Renovating houses; gardening; animals; Far Eastern travel

Unfulfilled ambition: To visit China to see the Terracotta Army

Personal business philosophy: It is better to skip along hand-in-hand than to lead a team that drags its feet.

Elizabeth Bradley Designs Today

To get a feel for the activities that took place at Plas Bodfa during the Elizabeth Bradley days, I paid a visit to the current EB workshop, still located in North Wales! Many thanks to the staff for a very warm welcome.