Blind ambition helped tea boy to reach the top
Chris marks 40th year in business
ABUSINESSMAN who went from shop assistant to company owner is celebrating his 40th year in business.
Chris Gardiner joined DIY & hardware store Vikings as a 16-year-old shop assistant, where he worked his way up the ranks into a managerial role, before eventually taking ownership of his first shop, Vikings Tytherington, when he turned 30.
After purchasing the Tytherington store in 1996, Chris steadily grew the business by opening three additional Vikings shops and launching Vikings Blinds – a provider of made-to-measure blinds across Cheshire.
Reflecting on the milestone, Chris said: “I started at the original Vikings Wilmslow store as a 16-year-old working on the shop floor, brushing up and making brews.
“Brian Morgan, who owned Vikings at the time, was a fantastic mentor. When he decided to open a second store in Tytherington, he asked if I would manage it – I was only 21 at the time and really enjoyed working in the shops.
“Some years later, at the age of 30, I was fortunate enough to be able to purchase the Tytherington store from Brian with my father-in-law and business partner, Tony Shortell.”
“As well as selling hardware, the shop was fitting blinds one day each week.
“It was a good little earner so we decided to continue fitting them and launched Vikings Blinds to operate alongside Vikings DIY & Hardware.
“Brian retired from Vikings in 1997 and closed the original Wilmslow store on Church Street, which I reopened a year later on our current site on Grove Arcade.”
The business continued to expand and Chris opened two further stores, one in Hale and one in Knutsford.
Chris continued: “The business snowballed and we haven’t looked back since.
“We still pride ourselves on offering the same personal service in our shops and are very much a family-run operation.
My daughter, JessicaMay, is our accountant, my wife Anita manages the stock in our shops and my brother Keith works across our stores.
“I am proud of the fact that Vikings Blinds never rely on sub-contractors and manage the entire buying process, from quotes, to measurement to fitment and after care – and it’s one of the reasons that we are able to continue after all of these years. This hands-on approach guarantees that each installation meets our standards, providing you with peace of mind and the assurance that your blinds are in the hands of experts.
Vikings now employee a total of 15 full and part time staff across four shops spanning Wilmslow, Knutsford, Hale and Tytherington.
Chris added: “We’ve
recently added a new line of perfect fit shutters that have been hugely popular in both residential and commercial properties and continue to specialise
in a range of room darkening systems.”
“I’d also like to thank our customers for both Vikings blinds and in our hardware stores. It’s been a turbulent time for traders during and after the pandemic - and it’s good to see that people are still keen to invest in the local economy”.
IT IS interesting watching the political games playing out both nationally and locally.
I find it helpful to look back on the history of elections here.
The constituency of Macclesfield is staunchly conservative, small c.
It has voted Conservative Members of Parliament since its inception as a single seat constituency in 1918.
From 1832 to 1918 the constituency elected two representatives and they were always either Liberal or Conservative.
Today we have a Labour/Independent coalition run borough council (Cheshire East).
In reality, there are more Conservative councillors on CEC than Labour, but the deal was done with the 11 independents (who operate as a political group locally).
Labour nationally is hotting up for a supposed landslide in the General Election when it happens.
But here in Macclesfield it remains a challenge to remove Mr Rutley from his seat.
CEC tells us it is struggling financially; the officers are advising the elected councillors that savings must be made across the board.
This is going to be a bitter pill to swallow for those running the election campaigns both for Labour and theLabourrun CEC is a shambles, and it was a mess when run by the Conservatives before that.
How will campaigns explain the closures of household waste disposal centres and the addition of car park charging across the borough – even on Sundays – killing off markets and leisure activities as well as adding more misery to the already struggling shops?
Voters are not happy with how our local services are being run with swathing cuts across the board.
Elected local councillors are well placed to deliver directly on behalf of the residents who they represent, in many ways more so than elected members of parliament.