A man who swapped cutting peoples’ hair to selling carpets is celebrating the rapid success of his County Durham store.
Just over two years ago, Paul Tennant was running three franchises for Saks Hairdressers, as well as acting as the company’s business development manager, with responsibility for 140 salons.
But one day, out the blue, he decided he had had enough of hairdressing and hung up his scissors for the final time.
He decided to do something completely different and took over the management of Franks the Flooring Store in Crook town centre.
After making a major investment in the refurbishment of the store, 53-year-old Paul hasn’t looked back and his store has quickly become one of the most successful in the whole of the Frank’s network of stores across the North East.
Paul says: “After becoming a hairdresser when I left school, I went on to spend a great deal of my working life in the industry, but it got to the point that I needed a change so I decided to look for something different – and now I don’t even cut the hair of my family and friends.
“I knew someone working at Franks who mentioned the Crook store to me so I decided to give it a go and it’s been the best thing I have done.
“I took over the store two years ago and there has been fantastic growth since then, so I must be doing something right!”
Paul credits the success of the store with the investment made in remodelling the exterior and interior, as well as adding new ranges, such as hard wood flooring, luxury vinyl flooring and even artificial grass.
“My aim has been to give the store a boutique feel and to reflect the fact people are now likely to have multiple flooring choices inside and outside their home, whether it’s wooden flooring in their living room, carpets for the stairs or artificial grass in the garden.”
Paul says despite being very different professions, he approaches the carpet industry like he did when he was a hairdresser.
He adds: “As a hairdresser you listened and gave people what they wanted and it’s no different when selling carpets.
“It’s just as much about the service as the product and making sure people leave happy is my main goal.”
www.frankstheflooringstore.com