Homestyles changing faces….

In December 1993 a new business was formed called Homestyle Nationwide Ltd where small goods were sold from the back of a white van. Yes we were the original “White Van Man”, all sounds a bit dodgy but i can assure you we had the same values even back then.

Our customers, as they were known back then, would get the chance to purchase some of our (perhaps not so finer quality) bedding and towels, which were our specialty back then!! And they had the added delight of doing this all from the back of our old rusty white van. Back in the 90’s that was what we all did, imagine that nowadays ha ha i bet your neighbours curtains would be twitching…

We were a success and gained some very loyal customers along the way, most of which are still with us, probably ditched those towels and bedding a long time ago though 😂 .  I bet they can tell you a story or two about us during the early years.

I was only a teenager back then but i do remember Homestyle coming round and seeing them about town, such a friendly bunch even back then, little did i know then that id end up working for them, small world.

So, as I grew up Homestyle also grew up, technology progressed and i started working with them to help bring them into the next Century.  In 2008 our old rusty white van sadly went to White Van Heaven, no tears were shed, it was a happy occasion.  But in its place sprung up three sparkling white Mercedes Sprinter Vans (no rust) and they became known as “Mobile Shops”. Shelving, lighting, carpets, laptops were all installed to complete the transformation and these, although tweaked a little, are what we still have today.  There has been talk about a Homestyle Coach i tell you no lie!!

Alongside the Mobile Shops we launched a website for members only, where members (no longer known as customers) needs always came first, we listened to them and improved our services and our products then our website and mobile shops really took off.  We did away with the outdated door to door collections, got top notch branded goods and became totally “on-line” based and this is where i came in!!.

Back in 2010 we joined the world of Social Networking, we become instantly available to our members every day.  With this new way of communication it meant our support of our Members improved, our members had a voice and we also had a way of getting our ideas out there and from that many new ideas came about including our new modernised website http://www.homestyle247.com in 2013.  We never sit still and the website changes all the time but we hope its always for the better.

Facebook became HUGE so in 2015, we launched our Personal Shopper Group which is very handy for our members that want to save the hassle of logging onto the website, are not online savvy or just simply trust us enough to order them what they actually want.  We also installed a Wish List on our website, where members list what they want to buy, trust me its had its problems behind the scenes but it works and lots of you use it every day.  Click Here to find out more.

This year already were on a roll, weve started this blog (yeah you already know that if youre reading this!!) and probably more importantly a new TEXT BACK service where our members can text us and we respond with their balance and credit details….instantly, its like MAGIC.  Means you dont have to log in or wait for one of us to get back to you, afterall we want it all and we want it now dont we, or is that just me?

And i know lots of you will not understand the importance of this but last week we got FCA Approval (Financial Conduct Authority) for our Business.  This is a big deal for us and means we are working to a top standard and are doing every thing right in the Finance Industry.  Its just made our day i tell you, we worked very hard to get this accreditation and were very chuffed its all been worth it.

The next step is our very own App… its currently at the app store awaiting approval and i for one can not wait for it to be available to everyone on iTunes and Google Play, feel like one of the big boys now, dont mess with Homestyle were on the up and youre all coming with us…excited much?

Right, id best get back to work i need to work on our next top secret new thing.  Keep reading our weekly blogs if you want to know what that is 😉