Barry Dunphy, General Manager at direct to the public Irish manufacturer and retailer Caffreys Furniture, talks about recent investments including store fitouts and the launch of a new inhouse bed brand.
Family business Caffreys Furniture has continued evolving through the decades, with original roots dating back to the 1970’s. As part of its ongoing development, the company has been busy updating its store portfolio with a facelift, as well as extending its offer. Two stores from its five locations across Ireland were the first to experience a refresh, with both Navan and Cavan since reopening following successful respective refits.
“We first launched the ‘Caffreys Beds’ brand within our Caffreys Furniture Navan showroom last September along with a full store refit and remodel,” Barry said. “We have seen great results since September in our new bedroom gallery and we are delighted to present our brand newly refurbished, remodelled Cavan showroom with the launch of Caffreys Beds here too.
“We have added some great new features and enhancements in store including a free customer coffee and prosecco bar, where customers can enjoy a coffee or glass of bubbly upon arrival while they explore some of our new gallery’s.
These include a new Pillow innovation gallery, a new Italian sofa gallery, our 100% Irish made gallery along with our lift & rise motion chair range.
“We have extended our bar stool area now offering greater choice in dining, while not forgetting our largest bedroom gallery to date which features over 50 beds, including our handmade in Oldcastle Divan beds, ottomans, headboards, bedroom furniture and more! In addition, outside of our own manufactured products we are delighted to launch some great new upholstered ranges in-store from Lebus Upholstery, Sofa Source International, MA Moran and Connolly Furniture.”
Barry revealed that the business has invested “heavily” in its fitout projects with increased lighting, new customer features, additional POS and extensive galleries as highlighted above. Specifically on the bed department, the company spotted an opportunity to grow this further. “We manufacture to the trade under two brands, Gleneagle & Homelee who supply retailers, property developments and hotels across the country.
“As we are Ireland’s only furniture and bed manufacturer selling direct to the public, we saw a huge opportunity in the bedroom department to develop it further, as other competitors in our areas have been mainly focused on sofas,” Barry said. “We wanted to give our customers a better choice for their bedroom interior and we are not relying on a middle man resulting in a faster delivery direct from our factory to the customers room, while offering better value for money.”
Following the refits, Caffreys Furniture has seen a positive response, an uplift in sales and compliments from visiting customers. Barry continued: “At the Navan store, we have received nothing but great compliments about the whole store remodel and we can see this resulting in a higher average sales figure on each order especially in the bedroom department. Our like-for-like sales on the previous period has seen an uptick in revenue. As for Cavan, we were delighted to officially relaunch the remodel of our Cavan showroom in September and we’re very proud of what our in-house fitout team has produced.”
Caffreys Furniture also intends to rollout its refit strategy at its other locations in Athlone, Dublin and Dundalk, while keeping a watchful eye on expanding its portfolio with the addition of new stores. “Despite challenging trading conditions, we never like to stand still, we are always looking for our next move,” Barry said.
“We are always on the lookout for new locations to expand the Caffreys brand and offering. We are constantly developing new products at our in-house design office, looking at new fabrics and timbers to make the best engendered furniture ranges.
“We have plans for fitout works at our Athlone, Dublin and Dundalk showrooms next to introduce our Caffreys Beds brand and our new Galleries at these locations. We will see new investment in our warehousing and production facility over the coming 12 months along with new additions to our IT system. We have just commissioned our new multi-needle quilting machine, as well as our new edge bander.
“We are currently introducing a new fleet of vehicles to support our home delivery services, each vehicle has been branded, while supplied with tec cameras and tracking to support our planning office, giving customers the most up-to-date information. All these upgrades and investments will see us go through staff training programmes and development to bring us to the next level.”
As final word, Barry extended his gratitude to all of the Caffreys Furniture team. “We now have over 80 staff directly employed in our group and we’re proud of all the work and effort that goes in each day.”
