RETAIL
"These days our engineers are involved in laptop diagnostics and our training programme is comprehensive and essential.” Despite the changes in the mechanical side of the operation, Mr Gillman believes that the basics of good business never changed. He said: “Gillman’s is a one stop shop, specialising in the retail, domestic and commercial sector, offering personal service and excellent product knowledge for the appliances we supply. This includes renting, installing, servicing and even detergent dosing for commercial machines. “We are very passionate about ‘Gillman’s the family business.’ Many independent businesses are sadly disappearing from the high street. “If you are supportive of a family business, then you can be sure you are going to experience a personal level of service every time. "It isn’t only the customers that are loyal to Gillman’s, many of our staff members have worked for the company for a long time, which is testimony to the management style of the directors and the culture of our business” said Mr Gillman. While Hoover provided Gillman’s with much of its work in the earlier days, the brand Zanussi was also the beginning of a new era, as the company was awarded the servicing contract for the three counties of Gloucestershire, Worcestershire and Herefordshire. This then evolved into work for other leading brands. In 1977 Gillman’s launched its first retail division, becoming distributors for Zanussi products, then partnering with other top brands such as Miele, LEC and Hotpoint. Today Gillman’s retail and service departments consist of 82 employees, In special memory: A few days after the Gillman’s group photograph was taken, Ian Olive was taken ill and sadly passed away. Ian worked for Gillman’s for over 38 years in its service department and had been a loyal and dedicated member of the team. He was an excellent engineer, who loved nothing more than problem solving and fixing his customer’s appliances. Ian and his widow Jackie were together for over 40 years, they had three children and lived in Churchdown.
Mr Gillman said: “I had worked alongside Ian for nearly 40 years and I can honestly say he never had a cross word to say about anyone. He was a member of the Gillman family business and, without a shadow of a doubt, helped us build the company to become the success it is today. "The company and all the staff will sincerely miss him and we are all very saddened by his loss and extremely grateful that we had the pleasure of knowing him” l
44 | February 2019 | www. punchline-gloucester .com
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