The 1st September was the 8th anniversary of my taking over as owner of Tobys!
Tobys actually started way back in 1985 and I joined the company almost 18 years ago as a member of staff but it wasn't until 2016 that I bought the business from the previous owner on his retirement and it has been quite a journey!
After being made redundant from my previous job at Oddbins (the wine merchant) I joined Tobys as a general dogs body and worked my way up from there to General manager. The previous owner and I had been discussing a possible management buy out for some time and once my first child was born in 2014 I really wanted to move things forward or to move on to something else so that I could better provide for my family so we agreed to crack on with working out a deal.
Obviously working out a deal like that is no easy task as each party is trying to get the best possible outcome for themselves and there was only a certain amount of money that I could beg and borrow to buy the business so many months of negotiation followed. Paul, the previous owner (and founder) of Tobys, and I had always got on well so things went reasonably smoothly and amazingly when we independently counted the entire stock we were within a few hundred pounds of each other which is pretty amazing considering how much stuff there is dotted all over the 1 acre site!
We were making great headway when a random accident caused me to lose all of the sight in one of my eyes and I had to take a step back from it for a while as I struggled to adjust to being mono sighted and went through a whole load of gnarly hospital treatments to try and sort things out. After being told that I would just have to live without the sight in that eye and, just about, getting used to driving etc a final turn of events meant that after months of worry and stress I suddenly became eligible for a transplant and within a matter of days I was having a new cornea sewn in and was back up and running with usable stereo vision!
Although that wasn't actually the end of the eye issues (which are still ongoing today!) it did mean that we could crack on with the buyout so, after a few false starts thanks to dodgy financial bods and banks playing their usual games, we finally settled on the 1st September 2016 as the handover date.
The final days were pretty intense with some of our borrowing falling through at the very last minute and solicitors arguing amongst themselves but amazingly we managed to pull it all together just in time for the prearranged deadline. We ended up putting the final solicitor and accountancy fees on our credit cards and spent every last penny that we had to get it across the line but at 8.30am on the 1st September 2016 we opened as a new company and, thankfully, that first day was nice and busy which was reassuring and much needed!
For the first few months I just worked away trying to get to grips with running the business and implementing some new systems that I felt the yard had always needed but once we had a little bit of money in the bank and things had settled down it was time to start looking for new sources of stock.
I had always wanted to make Tobys in to a proper reclamation yard again with the majority of the stock being reclaimed rather than reproduction and to source a really interesting, high quality and diverse range of items. I started off by going to fairs around the UK buying van loads of stock and making new contacts and then started making regular trips to France visiting Brocantes and bringing back a van full of cool French finds every couple of months. I soon also made friends with a couple of Hungarian suppliers and they began bringing lorry loads of items over for me as well.
It was really good fun for a while as the new influx of great stock meant that the yard had a whole new lease of life and we were very busy with new customers which was fantastic.
In early 2017 my dad died which was a bit of shock and took some getting over - by coincidence his name was Toby which had been a funny element to my owning the business as I wore a shirt with his name printed on it everyday which I think he loved. Sadly this meant that he wasn't around to really see me get to grips with the business but he did have some input right at the beginning helping me update the computer systems etc which we still use today which is nice.
Soon after this I made my first trip to India in 20 years. This time around it was a flying week long visit buying stock rather than the months that I used to spend chilling out in my late teens and early twenties!
All in all the first few years were great fun, lots of hard work and adjusting to running a small business which can be all consuming at times but generally it was really good fun.
Then 2020 came and all of a sudden things went crazy as they did for everyone worldwide. The lockdowns meant that all buying trips came to an end and we had to close for sometime. I then ran the business alone on an appointment only system for a few months whilst the staff were all furloughed. It was hard work but actually quite nice having one on one meetings with customers (at a distance obviously!) and having time to talk with each person individually rather than the usual quick turnarounds in a busy shop. I also had to unload lorry loads of sleepers, scaffold boards, furniture and stoneware by myself which would normally be the work of a few people which was very hard work during that very hot summer but it was great for my physical fitness!
We survived the lockdowns but then came Brexit and all that brought with it. Suddenly my regular trips to France came to an abrupt end and even sourcing stock from my French and Hungarian suppliers became difficult. I love to travel and hunt down stock so a long period with no fairs due to Covid quickly followed by the change in import laws making French buying trips impossible was quite a blow to my morale.
Like everyone in business we found ways to adapt and keep going. The new systems aren't as enjoyable as actually going to France and hunting for stock in person but they keep the stock coming which is the main thing. It has also made finding new sources harder as buying from Europe just isn't easy any more so we have to try and look further afield.
It was also around this time that we stopped doing bespoke kitchens. Kitchens had been a huge part of the business since I joined in 2007 but they had pretty much taken over and most calls and emails that came in were relating to past and present kitchens to the detriment of the rest of the business so in early 2020 I decided to fully stop selling them and we sold off the displays and decided to go forward focusing purely on doing what we do best...being a reclamation yard!
I think everyone expected the years after Covid and Brexit to be a period of calm where we could all reset and get back on top of things but obviously certain maniacs around the globe had different ideas and thanks to them and some terrible decisions by our own government life became very tough for pretty much everyone.
We have survived, it hasn't been easy and at times I have doubted how long we could keep going for as all of our costs have gone up, stock has becomes harder and harder to source and people have less money to spend in general but we are still here and fighting on.
And that pretty much brings us up to September 2024! There have been good times, bad times and crazy times but in general it has been a great first 8 years. I feel worn out from the mix of hard work and stress whilst also juggling trying to be a good parent to my two young boys but it is worth it and I look forward to what the future brings.
What's next? Well we hope to keep sourcing great stock and hopefully we can find some new suppliers around the world too (both for the stock and my desire to travel!) but mainly we plan to keep it simple, keep doing what we do best and try to remain an authentic reclamation yard with as much reclaimed, ethical stock as possible.
In 2025 it will be 40 years since Tobys first opened it's doors on a little site in Newton Abbot way back in 1985 so I am sure we will find a way to celebrate the yards actaul 40th birthday too!!
Thanks for reading,
Olly
