Interview with Alex Gerardi - MBE Clifton, Bristol Franchisee
A good
investment
Alex
Gerardi, who recently took over the Mail Boxes Etc. franchise in Bristol, is an
entrepreneur with the drive and optimism it takes to succeed. For several years
he had run a thriving high street print business in Clifton and had kept an eye
on the nearby MBE store. “Rather than being hard-nosed competitors, I got to
know Steve [the former owner of the MBE Clifton store] quite well and we
actually supported each other,” explains Alex.
“I asked him
to let me know when he was ready to retire because I liked the look of the
business – particularly the fact that it had several profit centres, so you
don’t have all your eggs in one basket.”
The ability
to spread the business risk across a number of income streams really came into
its own during lockdown. “Our print shop was bigger than MBE prior to Covid but
our turnover dropped by about 75% last year. Luckily we had some cash reserves
and were able to survive, but the MBE store suffered much less because it had a
range of services to offer – printing, shipping, mailbox rental etc. I was
already interested before Covid, and this just helped confirm my belief that an
MBE franchise was a good investment.”
Prime
location
Alex also
has a portfolio of commercial and residential properties in Bristol and it’s
perhaps partly due to his experience in this field that he took the decision to
move the MBE Clifton store from its original location to his much larger store
in Clifton Triangle after the acquisition.
“Originally
I wasn’t intending to brand the entire shop Mail Boxes Etc. – I was going to
keep the print shop separate – but now we’re completely MBE branded and we have
a huge illuminated sign that lets everyone know we’re very much open for
business. All our previous Clifton Print Services customers can continue to
order their print online or pop into the store, and the huge shop front helps
attract customers for the post, shipping and mailbox rental elements of the
business.”
Alex and his
team have already grown the business in the three months since it opened,
cross-selling services to existing customers as well as attracting new ones.
“If someone asks us to print a banner, for example, we’ll get chatting to them
about where they’re planning to use it. That might naturally lead to a
conversation about the exhibition they’re about to attend, and we can ask if
they need flyers or business cards for that. We’ll also offer to ship
everything to wherever the event might be,” he says. “It’s a great way of
letting people know about our other services. I’m a big believer in encouraging
our staff to build relationships with customers and find out more about how we
can help them.” Alex hopes his team will embrace this new way of interacting
with customers in a way that benefits everyone.
Each store
has its own personality and customer profile, and in Clifton this includes a
lot of SMEs, who use mailbox and virtual office services like post, shipping
and print. “Customers love the fact that we can design, print and mail out
their flyers from the store,” says Alex. Students are another key customer
group, whether that’s for stationery or print and copy. “We’re in high demand
at dissertation time, and often it’s about those last-minute requests.
Thankfully we have more than one machine, so we can turn things around the same
day in most cases.”
The store
also has some major multi-national customers that place large print orders from
time to time. “We’ve grown that business by keeping in touch with the print
buyers,” says Alex. “When they move on to their next job, they tend to carry on
using us in their new role.”
Looking
ahead
In the
coming months, Alex is looking forward to adding more mailbox customers: “It’s
very straightforward repeat business and the mailboxes themselves take up
hardly any space. We’re also hoping to continue growing opportunities with
existing customers by making sure they know about all the services we offer.”
In the
longer term, so impressed is he with the MBE business model that Alex is
already looking for opportunities to open more stores in Bristol. He would also
like to create a small portfolio of MBE stores around the country, and the idea
of turning around under-performing stores or taking a franchise over when the
owner retires has particular appeal for him.
If you would like to join Alex and be part pf a dynamic, thriving network with a flexible business model, call us on +44 (0) 1608 649230 or email franchise@mbe.uk, or visit www.mbe.co.uk/franchise for more information.