In 1979, the Harrison and Hughes families set up Wicklow Fly Fishers to sell niche clothing to country pursuits enthusiasts. Thirty-five years on, Fishers still caters for those who enjoy the great outdoors but it has also spread its wings into ladies and gents fashions and smart casual clothing.
In 2000, Simon and Jane Harrison took over Fishers completely and today the company operates from an extensive site in Newtownmountkennedy, Co Wicklow. It employs 21 people on the retail side and a further 10 in the Food at Fishers cafe. The business is now run by the Harrison's daughter, Becci Birchall, with a guiding hand from her father on finance and strategy.
“When my family started Fishers, there was really no one else selling good country clothing designed for purpose,” Birchall says. “They were supplying quite a small market but it was steady and formed the base from which today’s business has grown. For nearly 20 years my parents were doing other things as well as running Fishers.
“My dad was a banker and my mum had her own delicatessen and catering business. When they got involved full time, they expanded the range of lifestyle and fashion clothing with the focus on quality brands not widely available in the High Street. Our labels now include Olsen, Brook Taverner, Joules, Jack Murphy, Baileys and Seasalt.”
Not immune
Birchall says that, while Fishers has been consistently profitable over time, it has not been immune to the current recession.
“Our priority was to avoid making anyone redundant and we achieved that,” she says. “Thereafter we looked for every possible opportunity to trim costs, cut overheads and improve our efficiency without damaging the business in the process.
“We were probably a bit flabby before the downturn and it encouraged us to review our whole operation,” she adds. “We didn’t replace anyone who left and we shortened our opening hours as we knew we didn’t have many customers before 10am.
“In 2008, we took a very close look at our price points, as customers had certainly become more value conscious. As a result we dropped some of our more expensive brands, a big decision, and replaced them with clothing of equally good quality but without the designer label.”
Birchall says dropping brands was also a question of margins. “Top brand margins are so tight it’s hard to break even never mind make money on them,” she says. “We also did a lot of work with suppliers to tie up deals. For example, we offered additional floor space for more favourable terms on stock. Our three main preoccupations are quality, margin and price point.”
Fashion conscious
The typical Fishers customer at the moment is the fashion conscious lady in her 50s and Birchall has been introducing new labels to woo buyers in their 30s and 40s. She has also dipped her toe in the waters of own label manufacturing. “We’ve always been focused on looking after our customers and I think people repaid that loyalty over the last few years,” she said. “We have customers who come time and again and we try to keep them coming with good personal service and an ongoing marketing programme that includes events such as fashion shows.”
Birchall has recently overseen changes to the on-site cafe, which has been running for the past 15 years. “We want people to consider Fishers as a destination and being able to offer really good food is an integral part of this,” she says. “We launched Food at Fishers in September last year and it is bringing in good local trade as well as providing an added incentive for those coming from afar to buy clothes.”
To generate more income during the recession Fishers began renting space to other businesses. There are now six additional outlets on site including gift and bedding shops and a gallery with local artwork. “This was a significant development as it guaranteed us a rental income while allowing us to collaborate with other businesses to promote the site as a whole,” Birchall says.
Birchall studied international business and marketing at university and worked in various marketing roles before joining Fishers in 2002. She has been managing director for the past four years. “I’ve always wanted to run my own business and am now getting to do so in a company with so much potential,” she says. “I want to grow the food side of the operation and to expand our range of labels and to continue developing our customer loyalty programmes through style events and fashion advice workshops.”
Birchall says there are signs of a gradual pick up and Fishers has recently taken on two new staff. “Sales are up 5 per cent on 2013 but we’re not counting any chickens. The sentiment is more positive but people are still slow to spend,” she says. “During the recession people went back to the classics and bought pieces that would last. Now we’re noticing a shift towards fashion buys. Weathering an economic downturn is a challenge but also a great learning experience because it forces you to drill down to the core of what you do and see how you could do it better.”
