Brothers link up for sibling CeX success

Omar, 21, Eamonn, 20, and Samie Razaq, 17, were already well acquainted with the CeX business opportunity as Eamonn had had worked at a number of the brand's business outlets including being manager at the St Albans branch.

One of CeX's most successful franchise owners, Steve Boult, was a family friend so the Razaq brothers had seen how the business' formula for selling and buying second-hand goods from several different product lines - including mobile phones, electronic products and video games - led to high turnovers while tapping into the popular recycling market.

Omar explains: "After discussing it with my brothers and talking to Steve we decided we wanted to become part of the CeX success story and we loved the whole ethos of recycling. I then shadowed Steve for a few weeks to get a flavour of the business to complement Eamonn's experience as manager."

"We looked around the various locations available and after visiting Aylesbury, we looked at each other and smiled and said 'this is the one', as it is such a lovely place and reminded us of a bigger version of St Albans.

"Aylesbury is the perfect place for us as the footfall and sales is excellent and even though we only opened on April 10, we already have a good customer base of regulars."

From the outset, the brothers decided to designate a different aspect of the business to each other to prevent any sibling rivalry.

"I did have my concerns before starting the business with my brothers but it has turned out really well as we trust each other totally. Samie looks after the books, Eamonn is in charge of the shop floor and dealing with the customers, while I look after the stock and general layout of the store.

The Razaq brothers have been impressed with the CeX network and how it operates, as Omar explains: "The other franchise owners and head office have been very helpful and friendly and we really like the atmosphere and the fact all the stores help each other."

Omar, Eamonn and Samie set themselves a target turnover of £1million for their first year and, from their first month's takings, they believe they will easily meet that figure.

"We have been enjoying a really good mix of cash and credit and our biggest sellers at the moment are mobile phones and iPods but one of the reasons we love CeX is that the market is constantly changing. I certainly recommend owning a CeX franchise to anyone up for a challenge, especially as CeX make setting up in business such a smooth process.

Reported by Fraser McKay