Published: 01/11/2012
by ORS UK
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AS companies continue to battle against the tough economic climate, one Burton firm is benefiting as others tighten their belts.
Office furniture supplier ORS UK, based in Derby Road, has been so swamped with stock that it has had to open a new, temporary storage facility in South Derbyshire, with its Burton, Birmingham and Manchester warehouses already packed to the rafters.
Managing director Karl Ward, who bought the business two-and-a-half years ago, said the firm was bucking the wider trend, with its turnover last year up by 10 per cent.
He told the Mail: “You’ve got companies that are closing down, reorganising and restructuring and on top of that there’s all the public sector cuts.
“In this harsh economic climate, companies have got a choice — to keep all these desks with no-one sitting at them, paying rent and rates on them, or to reduce the amount of space they use.
“If they can get out of a lease or reduce the space, they will do, and all those empty desks have got to go somewhere.
“In the old days, it all would have ended up in landfill, but people these days are more environmentally aware and the cost of landfill is extortionate. It doesn’t take many desks to fill a skip.”
ORS, founded in Burton in 2000, has seen sales of secondhand furniture overtaking those of new stock in recent months, with customers including big firms such as John Lewis and Sports Direct.
Mr Ward said: “We’ve seen a big change in the last 12 to 18 months.
“It’s all because of what’s going on in the wider economy and that has a knock-on effect.
“The balance has absolutely shifted from new to secondhand.
“We probably sell about 60 per cent secondhand now and 40 per cent new, whereas it used to be the other way around.
“People are looking for value these days and the quality of the secondhand furniture we are getting is as good as new.”
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