Plymouth entrepreneur buys £29m of electrical goods
The city’s richest man, with a reported fortune of more than £150 million, fought off competition from across Europe to complete the deal to buy Empire Direct’s 28 nation-wide stores on Thursday night.
As part of the deal he has bought “thousands” of “top of the range” electrical items including flat screen televisions, cinema surround systems, fridges, freezers, washing machines, iPods and cameras.
He intends to create around 100 jobs across the country re-opening some of the stores while disposing of others.
Large amounts of the stock will be sold in his Plymouth stores, online, and via his new Estover Industrial Estate-based call centre from next week at “hugely discounted” prices.
It follows a deal he oversaw to buy £68million worth of stock from furniture retailer MFI.
And while the rest of the nation feels the strain of the recession, Mr Dawson continues to revel in the moment.
He revealed he will shortly be announcing his intention to begin selling ‘triple-deck’ luxury super yachts.
And when The Herald phoned Mr Dawson – once labelled ‘Plymouth’s Deluxe Del Boy’ – he jokingly announced: “This time next year Rodney, we’ll be billionaires!”
The multi-millionaire added: “We are really thrilled to have landed this at last. It has taken a few weeks but we have finally sealed the deal.
“We had a lot of competition on this one from countries including France, Spain and Germany.
“When you are buying top of the range stuff everyone wants to get involved.
“We now own the stock and the stores. Empire Direct had about 28 stores across the country, predominantly based in the north of England.
“We will be disposing of some and opening others.”
He said he is proud to be flying the flag for Plymouth.
“It’s another positive story for us and Plymouth,” he said.
“We are all very excited about what is going on and it is thanks largely to the team I have here.”
He said he will be selling the goods – at up to 70 per cent off some items – locally at The Range store in Plymstock, the former MFI store in Prince Rock, online and through his Estover call centre.
Mr Dawson, founder and managing director of The Range Home, Leisure and Garden, was ranked 525 on the Sunday Times Rich List last year with a reported fortune of £155million.
Mr Dawson is likely to again feature in the forthcoming Rich List.
Last month hundreds of bargain hunters flocked to Plymouth’s former MFI store in Faraday Mill Business Park to take advantage of discounted goods. Mr Dawson said at the time, the store was taking roughly £17,000 an hour as shoppers splashed out on bargain deals.
Items have continued to sell “well” according to the entrepreneur.