Located on City Road, furniture shop Chattels are celebrating their 30th birthday. The family business is run by brother and sister team Paul Griffith and Sonia Wallace.
The business was founded in 1995 by their late father Peter Griffith who had been working in the wholesale furniture industry for over 30 years. Seeing a gap in the market he opened Chester’s only contemporary design furniture showroom on Steam Mill Street. In 1999 his son, Paul, joined the business with a lighting shop in Boughton High Street, and six years
later they combined and moved to a much larger showroom at their current location on City Road. Sonia joined the team nine years ago. “Dad taught me well, he taught me about the quality, what to look for, how to tell if something will last.” says Sonia
“We have survived, indeed thrived, for 30 years because we have never stood still,” says Paul. “As well as retailing beautiful furniture, we also offer a full interior design service for domestic and commercial properties. This grew really from customer demand. We have clients who have worked with us for decades, have moved house or are updating their existing home .Our design service ranges from helping to plan and install bespoke wardrobe systems to furnishing entire homes.”
Last November Chattels expanded into a vacant warehouse increasing in size by a further 350 square feet, creating a vast showroom space. The impact of the luxury furniture is enhanced by the industrial feel of the new space. Says Paul, “There have been huge changes in the industry, a lot of businesses have made their showrooms smaller and have gone online . We have gone the other way !”
Sonia echoes this saying, “there are not many furniture shops left in the North West, we have seen a lot of our competitors go. Everybody went online, we have never done that. You will find a catalogue site for us, but we want to talk to our customers, we want to get to know them. We can get a feel for them and work out what they like. We are a friendly team and anyone is welcome to walk through the door at any time!”
The business is located a few minutes walk from the train station, an area which has seen some improvements in recent years with the new Thomas Brassey statue, the opening of the Station Tap as well as the ongoing renovations to the station itself. “It is the gateway to Chester” says Sonia. ” If you look at some of the properties they are beautiful, but it needs enhancing. Belong is great, and they have the coffee shop which is great. One of the things we have struggled with is parking. If you go down Brook Street its free until 6. Because we are the sole retail unit they wont do it. Its a pound an hour for up to 2 hours but it does put people off”
Something new for the ever evolving Chattels is a partnership with E2 Art Gallery with artworks exhibited across the showroom in matching locations. E2 aim to match art with the furniture and enhance the display, with the company working with many artists from across Cheshire.
Artist Elizabeth Macdonald of E2 commented :
“Its all about marrying the furniture with the artwork. Every piece of art has a link to the furniture, its not designed to go with the furniture but its curated with it. We are working really closely with Paul and Sonia and an interior designer, we go out to peoples homes and we provide the “cherry on the icing on the cake ” really. We provide the final touches, we can do bespoke pieces, any size, any colour. We feel really privileged to be part of an old Chester business, its such an achievement to be still in business and to be so established.”
The Chester blog 