Mandarin Stone has opened a showroom on West Park in Harrogate.
This is their 15th opening, and their furthest North. The Harrogate store joins a list of prestigious locations including Wilmslow, Primrose Hill, and Tunbridge Wells.
The showroom will feature their complete collection of natural stone, porcelain, and decorative tiles for both inside and outside use.
They were founded by Alma Small, 30-years ago, and has remained a family run business.
The store will feature products to suit all design schemes and budgets including traditional flagstones, contemporary porcelains and decorative tiles. Within the range are options for kitchens, bathrooms, living spaces and outside areas.
Katharine Hughes is the regional manager for Mandarin Stone, North and South West.
Katharine said:
Mandarin Stone is an importer and distributor of natural stone, marble, travertine, limestone, as well as a manufacturer of high quality porcelain, and ceramics.
We own and operate 18 warehouses, near to Monmouth, run our own fleet of special vehicles, that have air suspension and detachable forklifts.
Alma setup the company in 1989. At that time was a geography teacher, married with 3-children, and was asked by a friend to help sell some imported Chinese slate. She sold that slate business to business, and found that she was good at doing that. From there she took out a bank loan, bought the business, and setup the first showroom.
We already have a client-base in Harrogate, with a driver from social media. Even with a huge dip in the economy with covid we have never stopped advertising. At that time we furloughed all but 8 of our stuff, but we found the interest in us didn’t stop. People were at home, they wanted to do more with their homes and gardens, and particularly the outdoor stone market just leapt.
We looked at areas where we had already had success. I had been the manager in Cheltenham for many years, and for me Harrogate seemed the natural step as it had a similar demographic. It was a spare town, and it has many that are very discerning about their homes, wanting to make the most of their available space.
We feel this is going to be a great place for us to be, and so far we have had some wonderful comments – people on the phone, emails, architects, developers, designers, all wanting to know when we will be open.
