Stringer Ltd is a retail design business. The Access to Finance program helped them weather the recession by aiding them in gaining a £50,000 loan from the Economic Recovery Loan Fund.
Stringer Ltd - Retail design company continues through recession
From his humble small studio in Shoreditch; using only an electric drill and few hand tools, to finally buying a large factory and a showroom eight years ago, Dick Stringer’s company has grown against all odds. Dick started his successful retail display design and manufacturing company 20 years ago. “A friend of mine asked me to design and make some full-size mannequins to use at a trade show – at the time I was a sculptor. The mannequins provoked quite a lot of interest and I received orders for a few. One customer then asked me to design a display system for a showroom they were opening in Paris and that is how I started in retail display,” recalls Dick.
Then the recession hit the retail design sector very hard. While the media focused on the liquidation of high street giants, the knock-on effects on smaller businesses were being ignored. “The Icelandic Banks had invested heavily in the UK high streets and their insolvency seriously affected many well-known stores. We also suffered from the administration of a large customer, Adams Childrenswear,” says Dick.
When their biggest account went into receivership, Dick suffered a serious cashflow problem and came to ELSBC for support after hearing about the then launched Economic Recovery Loan Fund on the news. The fund, which was part of the Mayor’s Economic Recovery Action Plan, was set up to assist London’s small and medium sized businesses who were unable to access finance from mainstream banks due to the tight credit.
Through the Access to Finance programme, Dick and his business counsellor worked on the business plan, subsequently getting a £50,000 loan. “The Economic Recovery Loan Fund from ELSBC has been invaluable in getting the business back on a firmer footing after the difficulties of ’09. We have commissioned a new website to incorporate e-commerce, have been able to stabilize the numbers of staff, therefore avoiding redundancies and we are hoping to begin recruiting again later this year,” explains Dick.
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Stringer Ltd
