A Day in the Life of Neptune. #Blog

Briony Wilson
16th July 2019

Neptune Chester recently celebrated their 3rd birthday so we decided to help them celebrate with a special luncheon and to find out more about the brother and sister team of Hannah and Joe Webster. We sent Stephen Wundke to ask the questions :

How did you get involved in the business?

Hannah : We both have different stories really. For me, long story short, we are a family company, a family franchise with in Neptune, that our parents started about  7 or 8 years ago up in Southport and when they started the build phase of the first store, I was between contracts and said I’ll give you a hand and when it came to opening, they said don’t go,  stay with us , and so I’ve been with the company since, whereas you Joe, have a different route.

Joe: I went to university, studied construction and then went to work in construction, for quite some time and then one day Dad came along and said we are going to open the Chester store do you want to come help? So I helped set it up, stayed through the build and then helped Hannah run it when it was done, and it snowballed and as 23/ 24-year-old young man it was too good an opportunity to turn down really. So I too stayed.

Do you find that the construction background helps with the way you put the kitchens together?

Joe: It’s more strings to the bow, it’s talking to people, and its project management, it’s all similar type of thing, it’s just communications skills really and a little of my skill set, which obviously helps.

How do the jobs break down between the two of you?

Hannah; We are both here on a daily basis, so I would say you’re the numbers man, and I would very much be in the design side of it, but there is a really healthy cross over between the two, we both have the skills to cross over but  if you were to comparmentalise the two of us, I would be the design and front of house, and you would be looking after the numbers and making sure we are where we need to be in the build. It works well.

Now some people working with brothers and sisters, that’s not always going to work, but it does for you?

Joe : Yes, we are quite a close family anyway, until only a year ago we lived together, whilst we were running it here so …

So, a natural extension of things?

Hannah: We have our moments,  but they are few and far between, but there are those moments,

Joe: But it’s always useful to have Mum and Dad, who have the final say over things, so if we disagree, the main bosses, Mum and Dad – we go to them and they make the  final decision so you can’t quibble on that.

Everything around here looks fantastic, so who has the best taste?

Hannah; I think we would both say each other, I’d argue myself, where you would probably say the same thing

Joe: I’d say Hannah has more of the classic Neptune taste, where I like my jazzy colours a bit more, so I’d say it works well with our separate inputs.

So, what’s special about Neptune?

Hannah: What special about Neptune, well I think whats nice is you can walk in to this place and everything can be yours, whether you aspire to have it next year and you want to save up or whether you walk in and you know that these guys can take care of me, look after me and from an asthetic point of view, it really can all look this good. We can walk you through it and from moment you walk through the door and you buy a candle, to perhaps the moment you take the plunge and spend on a kitchen, we can look after you through that whole process and that’s is what is so lovely. We can take the whole reigns or nothing at all, the customer is totally in control.

When I first came here to see you it felt like, an Aladdin’s cave, to me, describe it, to someone who hasn’t come here before because its unique

Hannah: Its totally unique, I think the Managing Director of Neptune, and some people may squirm when I say this but it is a really lovely version of IKEA, because you can walk around it and it is a series of total home settings, you walk to the left and you have a really modern kitchen with sofas and dining and then a bedroom  coming off it, you know it is that full setting it is a really inspirational showroom. You may find something you never thought of colour ways or perhaps you may never thought of having your sofas in these situations, always having them backed against a wall, where actually we may suggest bring it in to the centre of the room, make it cosier for you, and a bit more family friendly and of course you can see what it looks like

Joe: The space gives people confidence

Can we see everything here?

Hannah: Of course, you can – its all on display

Joe: Some people are limited in how they interpret what you tell them, and you don’t need to do that here, you can show them and that gives people comfort in the way they are progressing in terms of design and look and most importantly the feel.

Hannah: It does, and customers are prepared to spend 2 or 3 hours in here getting totally lost, in the fun and thrill of it, playing around with fabrics and paint colours and looking in the kitchen cabinets and all those wonderful things and it works.

Joe: You don’t necessarily have to walk away with something in your hand, in fact most of the time people just walk away with ideas and come back and ask us how to make it work in their house.

Do I need to be a really wealthy person to shop here?

Hannah; Not at all, we pitch our price point really nicely, we offer the quality which you have seen yourself and other people are encouraged to come see it for themselves, everything is solid wood its manufactured in the most beautiful way  with the most amazing care that we feel anybody can afford it. You don’t have to have a certain lifestyle to afford this, we will suit your lifestyle rather than the other way around.

We enjoyed our time with Joe and Hannah and were simply amazied at the level of detail within their incredible showroom.