Get to Know… Sharps Furniture
We find out a little about what the Newcastle branch of Sharps has to offer
Getting your home just right can be a wonderful thing but also a bit of a chore, and it can be fraught with peril unless you’re working with a company that understands what you want and need and can work with you to bring all your dreams to fruition - a company like Sharps.
We had a chat with Tracie Worthy, the showroom manager of the Eldon Square branch of Sharps, to find out a little more about what they can do for you.
Sharps is a very well-regarded UK-wide bedroom and home office company, with almost eighty branches nationwide. The Newcastle branch – the furthest north in England – has been in Eldon Square for seven years, in between Charles Clinkard and Euroexchange in the mall leading up to Marks & Spencer.
Tracie has been with the company for almost 25 years and clearly feels passionately about her job and her company. We asked why she enjoyed it so much.
“I love meeting people. Obviously, every day is different and I’m very much a people person. And I totally believe in the product - it is a brilliant product and we never have any problems with anything. You know that you're selling something that is of the best quality and that customers are going to get a bedroom that’s beautiful. I've got confidence in the product, whereas I do know people that work in certain industries that have to sell something that they don't believe in.”
We asked Tracie to explain what Sharps has to offer someone looking to improve their home in terms of the products and services available.
“We used to be just bedrooms and home office, but we've grown a lot lately," she explains. "We do still specialise in fully fitted bedrooms, walk-in wardrobes, dressing rooms, but now we also do home living collections and home offices. With the home living service, we do media walls, working spaces, under-stair storage, hallways and dining rooms. We can build in alcoves and loft spaces and we also do boot rooms.
"The bedroom are made-to-measure – we can turn difficult angles and cramped corners into better storage solutions and make everything fit perfectly. And obviously the customers can customise whatever they want. All of the bedrooms are wall-to-wall and floorboard-to-ceiling and we don’t use any filler panels. That’s one of the ways that we’re different to other manufacturers. We make our own furniture at our own factory and we've been trading for 50 years. And we now offer a 15-year comprehensive guarantee”
And what fitting services does Sharps offer to make everything exactly as the customer wants it?
"We offer a free, home planning design service. The designer will visit them at home with everything that they want for a beautifully organised room. All the designers have got CAD (computer aided design) now, so they will put it into CAD and the customer can see how it will look. They get a free quote there and then. If the customer goes ahead with the bedroom, then we send a technical surveyor out to double-check every detail is right, so there's not going to be a problem when it comes to installation. And then at that point, if the customer wants to change anything - the design, the colour, the style, anything like that - they can do that as well. It’s really brilliant service. They’re very good at what they do.”
Asked if there were any particular trends in the market, Tracie mentions slatted panels.
"The new slatted feature panels are very very popular, they’ve been introduced for both bedrooms and home living and they’re available in natural oak or espresso walnut. They’re especially popular with the younger clientele."
As well as clearly loving her job, Tracie is also really enthusiastic about working in Eldon Square and thinks it plays a part in the showroom’s success.
“It's a really good location.”, she explains. “Obviously, it's an indoor shopping centre, which is great for when the weather isn’t so good. There are plenty of restaurants and eateries, and there's a good mix of shops - there's something for everybody. It's in the centre of Newcastle so it’s easily accessible from all areas of the North East, really.
"We do get a lot of browsers, because of our location: we’re classed as being in what some people called The Golden Triangle, we’re near John Lewis and we get a lot of passing trade because people are heading for Marks & Spencer. I've actually got a collaboration with Marks and Spencer – they put their bedding on our beds! That way, we advertise their bedding and they change it every few weeks. It’s good for us because it’s a different look when people pass the door and good for them because they sell bedding people have seen on our beds. It works for both of us.”
It's really noticeable when you speak to somebody who really loves their job and believes in what they’re doing and Tracie’s infectious enthusiasm speaks volumes about what Sharps is about. So if you want to change up your home with some smart storage solutions, head to Eldon Square where Tracie and her team are waiting to help.
Sharps is open seven days a week from 10am to 6pm (11am to 5pm on Sundays) and can be found on Earl’s Way in Eldon Square. Find out more at www.sharps.co.uk/finda-showroom/newcastle.
