The South Wales branch is owned and run by James Studdart and his wife Leanne. Prior to taking the franchise, James was employed in sales and had previously been involved in the manufacture of specialist chairs. Leanne was a local hairdresser. They are one of several couples who came into franchising as a way of pooling their talents and the opportunity of working together in a family business.
James said: “I liked the idea of the franchise model as you have the backup of the larger company behind to help you grow your business. I felt that customers feel at ease when they think they are dealing with a larger more established company.
“I quite liked the idea of working in this industry after spending time manufacturing some of the products Ableworld sell.”
James and Leanne have been so successful with their initial store in Cardiff that they opened another store in Bridgend, enabling them to help more customers in South Wales.
James said “I looked into Ableworld as it looked like a nice company to be involved with, all the staff that I spoke to all had very nice things to say about the company and it showed that they cared about their customers and the company they worked for.
“I think with Ableworld that the model really works if you have a 5-year plan and within those 5 years your goal is to have a network of about 5-6 stores. Obviously you need the finance to back this up from day one and I feel that if I had looked at this model in that way it probably would’ve priced me out of it, but I do feel that this is the right approach when deciding on Ableworld.”
David and Audrey could see that an Ableworld Franchise would not only give them a comfortable income but would also provide great job satisfaction.