Fifty years of putting a smile on customers’ faces
THIS year, Ron Skinner & Sons, the renowned Tredegar-based car supermarket, celebrates an impressive 50 years of providing the people of south Wales and beyond with top-quality used cars.
After five decades, some things haven’t changed at Ron Skinner & Sons. It still keeps up the same high levels of service to every customer who walks through the doors.
However, some things have changed.
Not least the scope of what Ron Skinner & Sons will be offering to customers from 2018 and beyond.
But before we look to the future, here owners Philip and Mark Skinner tell us what made Ron Skinner and Sons the business it is today...
The Skinners and the ‘Swinging Sixties’
Ron and Rachel Skinner founded the business in Tredegar in June 1968. Based at Park Hill Garage, the company was initially a car repair shop and petrol station.
Somewhere around the middle of 1969, they decided to make the move into car sales.
Over the next five years the business grew in popularity and became very profitable.
Growing through the ’70s, ’80s and ‘90s
In 1974, the original site was redeveloped after the business was awarded Toyota dealership status and for the next 10 years the business flourished.
In 1984 a second site was opened at Roundabout Garage, Rhymney, which included a large petrol forecourt and small used-car operation.
As the ’80s progressed into the ’90s, the business went from strength to strength.
Everyone may well have been worried about the threat of the Millennium Bug as we headed for the year 2000, but at Ron Skinner & Sons, we were partying like it was 1999 every day of the week.
The Noughties to Now
The new millennium brought even further changes for the business.
In October 2001, a larger, modern, purpose-built showroom was created – the car hypermarket and used-car megastore that customers can visit today.
It doesn’t end there. In the build-up to Ron Skinner & Sons’ 50th anniversary, the business certainly hasn’t been idle.
Helping people drive away smiling
In 2017, Ron Skinner & Sons launched a finance brokerage called Smile Car Finance.
The company was set up to offer Wales the opportunity to find the very best finance deals, whatever their financial circumstances.
To date the team at Smile Car Finance has already handled thousands of successful applications, leading to more than 700 cars being sold in its first 10 months.
The next 50 years
Just as the last 50 years have proved to be significant for the business, its future plans will ensure that Ron & Rachel Skinner’s legacy will continue for the next 50 years and beyond. In late 2018, the main showroom in Tredegar will expand to hold an extra 800 cars.
This will mean that Ron Skinner & Sons will be able to offer visitors a choice of 1,600 cars in one location, making it Wales’ largest car supermarket. And 2018 also sees the opening of the first satellite sites.
In August, Ron Skinner & Sons will be opening its Cardiff and Neyland showrooms, with four more sites opening in 2019 and another planned for 2020.
It’s safe to say that a lot has happened at Ron Skinner & Sons over the last 50 years, with even more on the horizon for the business, its employees and customers.
By 2020, the company that Ron & Rachel Skinner created in 1968 will have an expanded HQ in Tredegar and plans to have an extra 10 satellite sites across the country.
The business is expected to offer a total stock of more than 3,000 cars, with over 400 staff and an estimated turnover of £250m.
After 50 years of successful business, they’ve certainly got plenty of reasons to celebrate.