An upmarket furniture and accessories retailer has expanded its storage operations in the Black Country to keep up with customer demand.
The Cotswold Company has opened a new 52,670 sq ft facility at Unit 9, The Woods Bank Estate, Wednesbury, adding 60% to its existing storage and doubling its intake capacity.
The move comes after it agreed a five-year lease with London & Cambridge Properties (LCP), which owns and manages the industrial estate, and it is already looking at how it can continue its growth plans.
Alan Joseph, operations director of The Cotswold Company, said it had moved its operations from the Cotswolds to the West Midlands over the past few years. The company has enjoyed 20% annual growth for the past three years.
The new facility will also enable it to offer a click and collect service as well as being the Northern hub for one of its delivery services.
“We looked at the West Midlands as a more central location that matched the distribution pattern of our customers and has allowed us to expand our next day delivery area to almost the whole of the UK,” said Alan.
“That happened at the same time as our main courier relocating from Walsall to Wednesbury and so we took the opportunity to locate our central distribution centre to help with our growth. We are now talking to LCP about the next phase of our three-year growth plan in the region.”
The new facility will bring four more jobs to the Black Country.
Andrew Preston, LCP’s industrial property manager, said that The Cotswold Company’s move to Woods Bank means that the estate is now fully occupied.
“We’ve been working very closely with The Cotswold Company to help accommodate its growth plans and are looking forward to assisting on its next phase,” he said.
“It’s clear from this firm’s rapid expansion that the West Midlands is a great place to locate a storage facility because of the excellent road network links.”
The Woods Bank Estate in Wednesbury is about four miles from Walsall town centre and six miles from Wolverhampton city centre. It has easy access to the Black Country New Road and to junction 9 of the M6. Other occupiers include: Balfour Beatty and Zoggs International.
