With more than 30 years’ experience in the family furniture manufacturing business it was inevitable that two brothers, Declan and Darach Gannon, set their sights on expanding into retail and now they can proudly roll out the red carpet - or possibly the green, the blue, or a whole multitude of carpets - for the first anniversary celebrations of G Furniture & Carpets on the Tuam Road.
Located at Northpoint Retail Park, G Furniture first opened its doors in May last year with the Gannon brothers using their extensive knowledge and experience to source, and manufacture, some of the best furniture available while at the same time always ensuring that customers are satisfied with the quality, the range of choice, and of course the affordable prices.
Although some of the furniture is sourced from factories at home, and abroad, much of the bedroom furniture is made in Roscommon at Gannon’s Furniture where it all began in the late seventies. “We still have the family business in Roscommon and we would have been making furniture with our father,” says Declan, who added that all of the Gannon family, including three other siblings, have been heavily involved in the business which started out in wholesale and manufacturing, selling to retail shops around the country, and employing more than 30 people until a few years ago. However, with the economic downturn it was time for a bit of change for Declan and Darach, who wanted to diversify and branch out further into the retail side of the industry, and last year they opened up G Furniture in Galway quickly followed by another store in Roscommon. A brave move some might say but as Declan explains he and Darach knew exactly what they were getting into.
“In the late seventies, early eighties, at Gannon’s Furniture it was all bedroom furniture, aimed primarily at the rental market, people didn’t spend a whole pile then, the quality and the expense of the furniture was not like what it is now, people tended to keep to the lower or middle end of the market. We had to move with the markets as things were changing, new markets were opening up making it easier to bring in furniture of better quality and at affordable prices. As the recession hit, we wanted to hold on to as many of our staff as possible and by opening retail outlets it gave us an opportunity to do that.
“We knew what the market was like because we had dealt with the retailers for many years. We knew exactly what was in front of us and we have exceeded our expectations to be honest for the first year. It was important to start from stratch and build up a strong client base. It’s all about satisfied customers. It certainly was a crowded market at the time, but we had our base from carpets as we brought in Noel St John who worked with O’Malley Carpets before it closed and so he has many years experience in flooring and carpet fitting. There was an opening there for a carpet shop and Noel had an awful lot of contacts so we built up our carpet section and this helped our furniture business,” says Declan.
Although the demand for full furnishing of newly built houses has diminished somewhat there is still a market out there with young couples moving into their new apartments, the doer-uppers renovating their houses, and landlords coming to G Furniture looking for quality, comfortable, and beautiful pieces to make their properties more homely. “The first year has been very good, we’re very happy with it,” says Darach. “We’ve found a lot of new and loyal customers, and a lot of people with rented houses keep coming back to us for furniture which is suitable for apartment living. People tend not to be going to the pub as much on a Saturday night anymore, they’re spending it in front of the telly and want something comfortable to sit on. They’re willing to put more money into something like that, quicker maybe than doing up their bedrooms and stuff, that end of things is busier - carpets, sitting rooms, sofas. We get a lot of people who are looking more at renovating, doing up what they have. We also get just a trickle of couples coming in who are happy with the products, with our carpets which are priced very competitively, and they’ll buy some furniture off us as well,” says Darach.
In fact the carpet section at G Furniture has been so successful that the store had to be extended just to accommodate it. There are more than 60 rolls of carpet on display at the back of the store but customers can also choose from more than 500 carpets, of all varieties, from catalogues, and the order will be delivered and fitted within a week. “There are all kinds of colours, designs, every quality suitable for rented houses right up to five star hotels. There are more than 100 catalogues here where customers can pick out a colour and order it in, and we can get the carpet in for the size of the room, we can order and fit it within a week. The measuring is free, fitting is extra but we only have very experienced fitters,” said Darach, who added that there is also a extensive choice of vinyl and laminate flooring.
The layout of the 15,000 square feet store is very deliberate in that customers are made to feel welcome, at home, to have a feel of the fabric of the suites or to bounce test the mattresses. A large selection of leather suites is stocked here and the fabric suites gives the customer the added advantage of being able to order it in any colour or size. Whether you want the suite wider, smaller, higher, G Furniture will work to ensure that your needs are catered for. “There are about 200 fabrics to choose from, the fabric suites are very popular because people can match up with any colour and there are so many different shaped and size rooms. The manufacturer in Monaghan can make them to different specifications and it can be delivered within three to four weeks,” according to Declan, who explains further that also in stock is a wide selection of dining tables and chairs which can be bought separately, mixed and matched to suit each person’s requirements. Most of the dining and bedroom furniture is sourced directly from small independent manufacturers
Along one side of the store is a number of ‘show bedrooms’ which allow customers to really get a feel for how the pieces would look in their own bedrooms. The Gannon brothers work tirelessly to ensure that customers’ needs and requirements are catered for by sourcing directly from independent manufacturers as well as working closely with designers to help design furniture that suits the Irish market. G Furniture & Carpets provides better value to its customers by “cutting out the middle man”, ensuring only the best quality furniture is in stock with free delivery nationwide. There is a large selection of exclusive bedroom furniture manufactured at Gannon’s Furniture in Roscommon, while other bedding products are sourced from Irish manufacturers such as Home-Lee in Tuam, Briody Bedding in Oldcastle, Co Meath, King Koil, and O’Dearest in Cork.
Throughout the store there are beautiful furniture accessories such as lamps, wall art including paintings by local artists, and picture frames. A selection of small occasional and decorative furniture, and lighting, can be found at G Interiors in the Galway Shopping Centre which the Gannons opened in October 2010. A lot has happened in the first year of G Furniture & Carpets and the future continues to look bright for Declan and Darach Gannon who said they were happy with the direction the business has taken and thanked all their loyal customers for their support.
For more information contact G Furniture & Carpets at Northpoint Retail Park, Tuam Road, Galway, on 091 753239 or log onto www.gfurniture.ie Opening hours are Monday to Saturday 9.30am to 5.30pm, and Sunday 2pm to 6pm.
