Hobson's Choice - European Union

‘We are so successful because we provide a full package and a complete turn key service’.

Even Hobson’s Choice owner and md Richard Carter admits that getting some of his customers to his showroom on the outskirts of Swindon can be a big ask. “Our London clients have to fight their way out of the city, drive all the way down the M4, go across roundabout after roundabout, find their way past a housing estate on to a trading estate, to then be faced with a building that looks like a fire station,” he says ruefully. “It’s got to be seriously well worth it.”
But two floors of spaciously laid out bulthaup kitchens, and designer bathrooms must look pretty good to those who do visit the showroom, judging by the number of clients that willingly make the journey.
“Although we’re in Swindon, about 40% of our business is in London,” explains Carter. He attributes this to the fact that many of his clients discovered Hobson’s Choice when buying a new kitchen or bathroom for their weekend properties in the Cotswolds. “Then they ask us to take on their home in London, then we get recommended, and so the business rolls on,” he explains. And it’s not just Londoners: the catchment area includes Bristol and Bath, since the nearest other bulthaup dealers are in Winchester and Oxford.
Last year, Hobson’s Choice undertook some 200 kitchens and bathrooms, tackling everything from design to complete installation, including building, plumbing and decoration. “One of the reasons we are so successful is because we provide a full package and a complete turn key service, if that’s what the client wants,” explains Carter. “For instance, one of our clients went to Australia for five weeks. We did everything while they were away, even emptying the old kitchen cupboards. They came back to a new kitchen, with new electrics, lighting, flooring and radiators – even Champagne in the fridge.”
It all makes for a very individual approach. The showroom, in contrast to the bulthaup London stores, is surprisingly colourful. Instead of the blond wood, steel and white pared-down palette for which this German brand is so well known, the bulthaup displays here feature a selection of aubergine wall units,
a vase of hot pink blooms, even a fiery red wall panel. “Hobson’s Choice has been selling bulthaup kitchens since 1986, and we’ve always put our own stamp on them,” says Carter. “We love the product, but we recognise the taste of our location and market.”
It’s a business with a substantial local reputation, not least because it’s more than 30 years old. Originally part of a local builders merchants, it took its name from the popular expression, meaning no choice at all, “because you don’t need any more choice, with everything available under one roof,” he explains.
Carter joined the company as an apprentice fitter nearly 10 years ago, before buying the business with the support of his family in 2007. Still only 30, he admits that running the business has meant fast track learning. “When I look back on the last couple of years, I couldn’t have done it without a phenomenal team,” he says. He now has a staff of seven, and is just about to take on another designer. Growth, he explains, has so far been largely organic. “We often start with one room, then over the years, tackle all the rooms in the house.” Now the business sells sofas, dining tables and chairs, lighting, tiling and flooring, all contributing to the complete package.
Carter spends his time designing, as well as running the business, and it’s clear he rates the bulthaup product very highly. “I truly believe – and this is an educated view, because I make it my business to know what the rest of the market is doing – that bulthaup is the best product on the market,” he says. “There are copycats left, right and centre, but the finer points of bulthaup’s quality simply cannot be replicated.”
While he plans another showroom in the south west in the next few years, for the time being he’s busy concentrating on building recognition, marketing his business with a local advertising campaign, a new website and a series of events for local clients. He is also striving to build business with new developers and architects. It all means long hours spent at his desk, away from his young family. “We’ve taken on this commitment as a family,” he says. “If I am lucky enough to have the level of enquiries to keep me here until late at night, I’d be a fool if I didn’t put in the maximum effort. Luckily, my wife agrees!”