Local firms on a high
DESPITE the economic gloom, the top businesses in Bromsgrove are bucking the downward trend.
Leading computer firm, Elonex, and the long established LG Harris and Co have won accolades this year, with Webbs of Wychbold branching out into the giant Merry Hill shopping centre.
Based on the third quarter sales, the Aston Fields company which brought out the first computer for under £100, has been ranked number one British computer vendor.
Marketing manager for Elonex, Sam Goult, said: “Since we kick-started the netbook sector, by launching the milestone £99 Elonex ONE, our firm has gone from strength to strength.”
Harris’, the brush manufacturer, employing more than 200 people in Bromsgrove, has been named one of the UK’s leading business brands in the Business Superbrands 2009 list.
The independent business owned by two generations for more than 80 years has manufacturing bases at home and abroad.
Marketing manager, Matt Lawrance, said: “We have doubled our export team, and are holding our own in what is a very difficult time for the DIY industry.”
Over in Wychbold, Webbs has just taken on a team of people to man a new Christmas shop at Merry Hill.
Chief executive, Boyd Douglas-Davis, said: “Webbs has developed over the years and they are so much more than just a garden centre.”
In contrast, following massive closing down sales all over the country, one teenager has just started up his own internet business.
Former Bromsgrove School pupil, 19-year-old Henry Newman, has launched Forget Forever.
It is an on-line retail business that remembers customers’ essential shopping lists.
Henry said: “The customer chooses the products they want, in whatever quantity they want, to be delivered on a monthly basis.
“The customer then receives their products automatically at the beginning of each and every month, until they choose otherwise.”