History of Stax Trade Centres

1981 - 2009

 

The early years
Initially set up as a wholesale cash and carry in 1981 by Motor Parts Distributor Maccess, Stax operated from Manchester, Leeds and Tottenham.  By 1986 the underperforming Leeds and Tottenham branches had closed  but Manchester was flourishing under the control of Branch Manager, Eddie Brady, and Purchasing Controller, David Hibbert, and it was these two who lead a management buyout in 1986.

Disaster strikes
Disaster struck in 1987 when the branch burned to the ground but undeterred the two continued with the venture moving to a temporary warehouse until the existing site was rebuilt and reopened only 9 weeks later.  From that point the company have gone from strength to strength building an enviable reputation within the trade and with its customers.

Expansion
The opening of three new branches followed ... Birmingham in 1988, Leeds in 1992 and Bristol in 1996 when the company’s turnover had grown to £36m and the Birmingham branch had merged with main rival  W E Merris.  The Birmingham and Leeds branches relocated in 2001 and 2006 respectively doubling in size and 2009 will see the already expanded Manchester depot relocate to become the biggest of the four branches.

Supporting the independent retailer
The company’s philosophy has always been to support the independent retail sector and throughout its history various innovations have been introduced to enhance this including the launch in 1997 of a marketing support programme ‘SupaValue’ which now regularly prints over 500,000 leaflets for its retail customers, and shortly after, the introduction of the Supa range of products designed to give independents their own ‘own brand’ range.  The brand today is worth over £12m in retail sales.

Still going strong
27 years after it was first established Stax now has a turnover in excess of £80m, a customer base of 40,000, stocks over 40,000 product lines, carries over £2m of stock at each branch and Eddie Brady, Chairman and Joint MD, together with David Hibbert, Joint MD are still at the helm.