“We felt very safe with CeX. That was our main criteria; as this was our first venture we really wanted to minimise risk.”
Peter van de Vyver,
CeX Franchisee
Before the idea of investing in a CeX business was even considered, Alex and Peter were living parallel lives, without knowledge of the other’s existence. “I was previously a student but was working at the CeX in my hometown of Southend,” explains Peter. “I worked there part-time for three years and in that time managed to move up to a Supervisor. My Business partner, Alex, started out with a similar story; starting out working for the same franchisee in his Chatham store. Eventually Alex moved to Southend as Manager, which is where we both met.”
The pair decided that running a CeX store was something they had the knowledge to do and decided to take up the challenge of running their own business. But they knew they had to be selective about the opportunity they wanted to pursue. “As this was our first store we were looking for somewhere that fit in to our budget,” Peter continues. “However most importantly we were also looking for a town that, as well as having reasonable rent and rates, would also give us a steady flow of customers for both buys and sales.”
Due to the nature in which they discovered the opportunity, Alex and Peter embarked on the extensive CeX franchise owner training programme, which taught them every thing they needed to know to run a business. “We felt very safe with CeX. That was our main criteria; as this was our first venture we really wanted to minimise risk. Having worked in CeX previously we felt that we knew the business well. We’d seen first hand just how good the return was. We also knew the company inside out. Having seen how agile and adaptable CeX can be we knew that no other franchise could be a better option.”
Click here to register your interest in CeX Having opened the business, it is perhaps no surprise that, with the experience and energy of Alex and Peter and the support of CeX centrally, the pair are off to an excellent start.
Peter continues: “We’re currently doing £17,000 - £20,000 a week. We’d roughly set our sights at £16,000 and so we are doing better than expected with plenty of room to improve. We’re off to a fantastic start and would already like to open another one.
“Even with our experience of having dealt with the company before it turned out to be better than we’d expected. It’s hard work, but you need that to make any new business work. Even so, with great support from CeX you are never over-whelmed.”
For Peter and Alex, it has been the training and support than has enabled them to flourish in the short period of time that they have been trading. Peter adds: “We had support every step of the way from planning the store to even the final build and afterwards. CeX give you a top pick of support staff and it does really show.” In addition, both Alex and Peter know exactly how valuable the training CeX provide to their staff members is.
Looking forward, the successful duo are already looking at expanding their horizons with another CeX location elsewhere in the country. “We are hoping to expand the business as soon as possible without rushing our current store,” concludes Peter, “We’ve managed to start something really good and we need to just figure out the kinks and then we’ll be ready with a perfect formula. With CeX behind us, we have the support to succeed.”