INTRODUCTION TO REPLACE YOUR CHINA BLOG
Having run a successful tableware replacement service for about 20 years, it seems to me to be about time to pass on some of the information that I have gleaned over the years, for the benefit of others.
I started off on a market stall selling discontinued Poole and Hornsea Pottery, (I lived near Poole and had already developed an interest their products). I soon found that besides purchasing items from my stall, clients were asking me to find specific items for them. In the early days, these requests were jotted down on odd scraps of paper, but before long I realized that I had to get organized and started to computerize the records. Fortunately, my son Mike, (who now runs a very successful web development firm Bizgen), came to my aid in this and we developed a system that records a list of items that clients have asked for and also a list of the stock which we are currently holding. This was the birth of the Poole Pottery and Hornsea Replacement Service.
After a few years I stopped running stalls at markets and antique fairs. They were fun to do, but involved very early mornings, long drives and putting up with some pretty severe weather conditions. I take my hat off to the people who continue to earn a living that way, year in and year out. They are a hardy breed.
Without going into all the nitty gritty of the development of the business, we now provide a purely postal service to our clients. We now seek out replacements for clients in most brands of discontinued tableware. Our stocks include Royal Doulton, Denby, Poole Pottery, Hornsea Pottery, Marks and Spencer, Johnson Bros, Noritake etc.
Our newest innovation is the introduction of a new branch to our business called "Replace Your China", a shopping basket site, where customers are able to browse our stock and purchase items on line, either paying via our secure internet payment facility, by telephone or by cheque.
This has been an introduction to my blog, which I hope to publish on an irregular basis, to include tips and suggestions for our clients.
Regards
Chris Eley
