A Road to Rebranding.

The story of the brand new Ashley’s starts officially 5 years ago, but really it began 20 years ago when Ronnie started working for Trafalgar Electronics. 15 years later Ronnie and his wife Lisa took over Trafalgar Electronics from previous owner Ken at the stores old location on Lower Hillmorton Road. At that time it was decided to keep the name Trafalgar Electronics as it was well known within the Rugby area.

However, in 2015 Trafalgar Electronics moved from Lower Hillmorton Road to St.Matthews Street into the building previously occupied by Frank Ewingtons. This also provided an opportunity to expand the business from TVs, audio and repairs to include major domestic appliances, small domestic appliances and vacuum cleaners. There was another discussion about whether to change the name of the shop and rebrand at this point into something more encompassing, but it was again decided that the time wasn’t right. So how did we end up here today?

In early 2017 the team started to look at the future of Trafalgar Electronics and the industry as a whole, as the electrical retail industry was changing. Smart products for the home were fast developing and it was decided that this was an area that they wanted to expand into. In order to do this they needed not only to research these new products and brands, but needed a new showroom to accommodate them too. During this same period Ronnie and Lisa attended ERT Magazine's ‘Turning Point’ seminar which helped confirm the decision to evolve the business. The team were also invited by ERT to act as their case study, so that they could be an example to other retailers who may be considering the same approach. Lisa and Ronnie often get visits from Shaun at ERT to see how they are doing and to update him on the stores progress. Ronnie and Lisa have since regularly appeared in the magazine and Ronnie even made the front cover!

Along with a new design for the shop floor it was decided (after much discussion and consultation with both other members of the industry and our customers) that a new brand and name should be created to reflect these changes and be the future face of our business, thus Ashley’s was born.

Why Ashley’s? The new name comes from Ronnie and Lisa’s surname; they wanted a name that offers a modern twist whilst showing that they are still the family based, independent business that people know and love. After all, at Ashley’s Ronnie, Lisa, Matt & Harry make up the retail family that offers fantastic knowledge and amazing service!