CHIPS changes life for Peter

FOR ex-engineer Peter Hardy clean, soft hands are just one of the many benefits of running a CHIPS video games store franchise.

The 50-year-old ex-freelance radiographer and wife, Trish, opened their own store under the CHIPS brand in Skipton, North Yorkshire, last summer after being seduced by the excitement and challenge of the video games industry at the National Franchise Exhibition in Birmingham.

Now a year on Peter is delighted to have joined the industry at the start of the latest consoles war between Sony's Playstation 2, Nintendo's GameCube and Microsoft's X-box which is raging across the globe.

Peter and Trish, who has taken early retirement from her career in Human Resources, were totally against retail when they visited the NFE - but that was before visiting the CHIPS stand and meeting joint MD Nik Agar.

"Nik was so passionate about this exciting industry which CHIPS has been part of for 16 years and we were very impressed with the whole set-up," said Peter, who now buys, sells and trades video games at his store six days a week.

Location, location and price are the keys, Peter believes, to the success of their store and it took the Hardys, with the help of CHIPS, months to find the right secondary site store at the right price.

After that it was all plain sailing. Nik and the CHIPS team of shopfitters moved in while Peter and Trish completed their intensive training at the company headquarters in Middlesbrough under the watchful gaze of CHIPS joint MD Don McCabe and area managers Martin Gilson and Ibby Husain.

Then group area manager Steve Morton and stock expert Dave Dauncey moved to Skipton to help Nik fill the shelves with new and second-hand consoles, games, accessories and DVDs. They also stayed on once the shop opened to lend a hand until Peter and Trish were confident to run the store alone.

Christmas was an exceptionally busy time and in December the couple exceeded their projected sales figures by more than 100%.

Since day one Skipton has exceeded its projected targets. In fact it hit its first year target in just nine months.

A fully integrated point of sale and stock control system allows CHIPS to see exactly what is being sold and advise on restocking each day. Franchisees can buy new and second-hand items from the company or preferential suppliers and CHIPS also offers a full sale or return on stock supplied "in-house".

"At Christmas we were the only ones for miles around with PS2s and memory cards. As a CHIPS franchisee I don't have to worry about sourcing stock, finding the best price or deliveries, that is all taken care of by headquarters. We can just concentrate on selling it," said Peter.

CHIPS now has ten stores across the country, the latest has just opened in Norwich, and its world-wide buying power and contacts gives franchisees access to the best stock at the best prices.

Distance between stores is also not a problem. Deliveries arrive via courier a couple of times a week or direct from the suppliers and returns and stock swaps also go by courier.

CHIPS stores carry 3,500 lines and Peter did find it took a while to build up all his product knowledge. "I am learning all the time and if I don't know the answer to a customer's question I can speak to any of CHIPS' 30-plus staff at any time and I can always find out," said Peter.

Trish has joined Peter in the store part-time after taking early retirement and nephew Robert Deery also helps out two days a week.

"I have no regrets about setting up a CHIPS franchise," said Peter. "It is such an exciting market and I really enjoy chatting to customers and building up a regular customer base.

"About two weeks after opening the store the hard skin started to peel off my hands and ever since I have had clean, soft hands - which is another big plus," he laughed.

For more information about Peter and Trish, please read their press release.

For further information about a CHIPS franchise contact Don or Nik on 0870 0130028 or visit www.chipsworld.co.uk.

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