(3) Ivory Wardrobe
The Ivory Wardrobe is an independent wedding boutique located in Woburn Sands, Buckinghamshire. The business has been running for 30 years, with the current owner, Laura Buckingham-Brown, taking the reins in 2010. She led a rebrand then, which sawextensive refurbishment.
In recent times, more couples are choosing to get married which has meant business is booming. As a result wedding boutiques need to stock more product. However, the purchasing process in the wedding retail sector can cause significant cash flow challenges.
For example, sample dresses are usually brought twice a year to meet the six?month lead time from order to delivery.
Buckingham-Brown purchases her dresses in March and September and this requires cash outlays ranging from £5,000 10,000 each time to ensure she has seasonal samples to meet her customers” expectations.
By acquiring a business cash advance, she wasAble to invest in stock, including the latest designs as well as original dresses for brides-to-be. Traditional business lenders don’t usually approve finance for things like additional stock, but in this instance, alternative finance boosted Buckingham-Brown‘s business through the mainstay of her offering.
(4) Foam
Laura Howells ran a bar restaurant at a marina, but the constraints of the kitchen’s size meant she could not scale the enterprise or develop the menu. So she rented a former office building on the seafrontAnd got planning consent for change of use. Some 12 weeks of building works later and a family investment of over £100,000?” Foam opened for business.
Due to its popularity,?Howellscreated a glass-walled room to better utilise the seaward facing patio. A few months later, the coffee station outside was replaced with a specially designed caf bar which transformed to a full restaurant bar at night. But although the landlord added the cost of the glassroom extension to the rent, all other costs fell to?Howells.
She had been declined for a startup loan in the business” first year despite the significant personal finance already invested and the business” ongoing success and wasn?t deterred, utilising a business cash advance to aid growth. This alternative line of finance allowed the business to continue improving its offering alongside meeting the needs of business operations.
Deciding to take out finance proved to be a profitable move as Foam’s turnover has increased substantially, year on year.
Since the Glassroom has been in use, the business has diversified to include private functions, tapas nights and live music events, none of which would have been possible without the expansion of the premises. Foam is now open seven days and six evenings a week and continues to receive great reviews.
Rafferty Gifford is digital marketing executive at Liberis
