It’s been a tough old 18 months for everybody, but there’s still plenty of things to celebrate - including the birthday of Stax Bristol!

Our Bristol branch first opened in 1996. At the time, it was the fourth branch to open its doors, with Stax Edinburgh and Stax Glasgow both following afterwards. 

Olympic Swimmer and ex-Gladiator competitor Sharon Davis was present for the official opening, and joint managing director David Hibbert recalled some solicitors and accountants at the branch walking around with massive mobile phones - there were no iPhones in those days! 

“For some reason, we hired a hot air balloon for the official opening,” said David. “I’m not sure why, but it couldn’t fly that day.

“So, myself, Eddie Brady [chairman & joint managing director] and Sharon Davis jumped in, and they lifted us up with a forklift to make it seem as if we were in the air for a photo,” he laughed. 

Twenty-five years on, Stax Bristol continues to provide trade and retail customers with all the supplies they need.

There were some challenges to overcome in the early days, including high competition for staff, mainly due to the branch being based in a big retail area. 

Nevertheless, some current team members - including Darren Bond, Ken Cass, Harp Khakh, Rashpal Gill and Rachel Payne - have been at Stax Bristol since day one. 

“The M5 also posed a bit of a challenge for us at the start, because the traffic was particularly bad,” David explained. 

“Once we began to offer a delivery service, our customer base really started to expand. Bristol now covers a very large area which stretches right down to South Wales, Devon, Cornwall, and even London,” he added.