George Sinclair, Company Director at Nimbus Beds Ltd, talks about the year so far following the launch of their second store.
For most 16 year old’s, plotting the next part of your journey after leaving school can either be to continue in education or get a job in the real world. For George Sinclair, he began to live out his dream of becoming a successful entrepreneur with his own business. This was back in 2014 where George opened his first premises in Thornton, Fife, under the name Fife Bed Warehouse, which would eventually rebrand to what we know it as now, Nimbus Beds. Fast forward to February 2022, and George has opened his second store in Cupar, the business’ first on a retail park.
After several months in their newest location at South Road Retail Park in Cupar, Fife, George revealed that the year has been a strong one for business. “Business has been fairly steady this year. It’s been weird as we have nothing to compare the first year with our new store against but when we first opened our new store, the business we done over two weeks, it would take two months to get to that before.
“I think I’ve never really been in a position to open a second store until now. To be honest, it maybe wouldn’t have happened so fast if my team didn’t pressure me into it. They said to me last year that I better get my finger out and find a second store or we will just be a one store business forever. To be honest, it was the push I needed as it made me find the site we are at now.”
George said it has always been a dream of his to open a store in a retail park and rub shoulders with retail giants that typically occupy these spaces. Even from such a young age, George had buying and selling in his blood, starting as a six-year-old. “My dad gave my brother and I £50 to buy and sell. I went to car boot sales and started buying up Singer sewing machines, and stored them in my shed. All Saints came in and bought them all – my job was to find them more.
“For us, the second store is a big jump but I have a fantastic team. It has always been my dream to be in a retail park.”
The other site on Strathore Business Park will continue to operate as normal, while the second store will include ‘innovative and fun’ features including nap rooms and sleep rooms so customers can try the bed properly before purchasing as George says “shopping for beds can be sometimes boring”.
“The new store has positioned the business in a totally different light and now we are seen to be a more premium brand,” George added. “It has always been a major goal for the business to be in the retail park before I turned 25, as that would be a 10 year anniversary of starting the business. We smashed this goal two years early, when I turned 23.”
With the store firmly settled into life at a retail park, George admits he’s noticed a consumer shopping trend where the weekends are not necessarily the busy times any more. “Weekends used to be flat out, however we feel since lockdown, consumer shopping trends have changed and we have found that we could be really busy mid-week and quiet at the weekend. Then the next week it’s the opposite.”
With an eye on the future, a possibly further expansion, George is keeping his ‘cards close to my chest’ for now, so watch this space.
